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Republican  Campaign  Edition  for  the  Million. 
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CONTAINING 


THE    REPUBLICAN    PLATFORM, 

THE  LIVES  OP 

FREMONT   AND   DAYTON, 

WITH  BEAUTIFUL   STEEL   PORTRAITS    OF    EACH, 
AND  THEIR  LETTERS   OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

ALSO, 

THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE, 

AND   THE 

CONSTITUTION  OF  TILE  UNITED  STATES. 


BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED  BY  JOHN  P.  JEWETT  AND  COMPANY. 

CLEVELAND,    OHIO: 

JEWETT,  PROCTOR  AND  WORTHINGTON. 

KEW    YORK  :      SHELDON,    SLAKEMAN    AND    COMPANY. 

1  856. 


E4-35 


"IF  I  AM  ELECTED  TO  THE  HIGH 
OFFICE  FOE  WHICH  YOUR  PARTIALITY 
HAS  NOMINATED  ME,  I  WILL  ENDEAVOR 
TO  ADMINISTER  THE  GOVERNMENT  AC 
CORDING  TO  THE  TRUE  SPIRIT  OF  THE 
CONSTITUTION,  AS  IT  WAS  UNDERSTOOD 
BY  THE  GREAT  MEN  WHO  FRAMED  AND 
ADOPTED  IT,  AND  IN  SUCH  A  WAY  AS  TO 
PRESERVE  BOTH  LIBERTY  AND  UNION." - 
JOHN  C.  FREMONT. 


THE   REPUBLICAN   PLATFORM, 

ADOPTED  BY  THE  PHILADELPHIA  CONVENTION,  JUNE 
17TH,  1856.  A  GOOD  DAY  FOR  THE  ADOPTION  OP 
SUCH  PRINCIPLES. 

THIS  Convention  of  Delegates,  assembled  in 
pursuance  of  a  call  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  without  regard  to  past  political  differences 
or  divisions,  who  are  opposed  to  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise  —  to  the  policy  of  the  pres 
ent  administration  —  to  the  extension  of  slavery 
into  free  territory ;  in  favor  of  the  admission  of 
Kansas  as  a  free  State  —  of  restoring  the  action  of 

o 

the  Federal  Government  to  the  principles  of 
Washington  and  Jefferson,  and  for  the  purpose  of 
presenting  candidates  for  the  offices  of  President 
and  Vice-President,  do  — 

Resolve,  That  the  maintenance  of  the  principles 
promulgated  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
and  embodied  in  the  Federal  Constitution,  are 
essential  to  the  preservation  of  our  Republican 
Institutions,  and  that  the  Federal  Constitution,  the 

(3) 

M35060 


THE    REPUBLICAN    PLATFORM. 


rights  of  the*.Stat£s,  land"  the  union  of  the  Statesf 
must  tjad  %sl\all  -be  preserved*, 


fathers,  we 

hold  it  to  be  a  self-evident  truth  that  all  men  are 
endowed  with  the  inalienable  right  of  life,  liberty, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  and  that  the  primary 
object  and  ulterior  design  of  our  Federal  Govern 
ment  is  to  grant  these  rights  to  all  persons  under 
its  exclusive  jurisdiction.  That,  as  our  Republican 
fathers,  when  they  had  abolished  slavery  in  all  our 
national  territory,  ordained  that  no  person  shall  be 
deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property,  without  due 
process  of  law,  it  becomes  our  duty  to  maintain 
this  provision  of  the  Constitution  (against  all  at 
tempts  to  violate  it  for  the  purpose  of  establishing 
slavery  in  the  territories  of  the  United  States,)  by 
positive  legislation  prohibiting  its  existence  or 
extension  therein.  That  we  deny  the  authority 
of  Congress,  of  a  Territorial  Legislature,  of  any 
individual  or  association  of  individuals,  to  give 
legal  existence  to  slavery  in  any  territory  of  the 
United  States,  while  the  present  Constitution  shall 
be  maintained. 

Resolved,  That  the  Constitution  confers  upon 
Congress  sovereign  power  over  the  territories  of 
the  United  States  for  their  government,  and  that 
in  the  exercise  of  this  power,  it  is  both  the  right 


THE  REPUBLICAN  PLATFORM.        5 

and  the  imperative  duty  of  Congress  to  prohibit 
in  the  territories  those  twin  relics  of  barbarism, 
polygamy  and  slavery. 

Resolved,  That  while  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  was  ordained  and  established  by  the 
people  "  in  order  to  form  a  more  perfect  union, 
establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity,  pro 
vide  for  the  common  defence,  promote  the  general 
welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty,"  and 
contains  ample  provisions  for  the  protection  of 
the  life,  liberty,  and  property  of  every  citizen,  the 
dearest  constitutional  rights  of  the  people  of  Kan 
sas  have  been  fraudently  and  violently  taken  from 
them. 

Their  territory  has  been  invaded  by  an  armed 
force ; 

Spurious  and  pretended  legislative,  judicial,  and 
executive  officers  have  been  set  over  them,  by 
whose  usurped  authority,  sustained  by  the  mili 
tary  power  of  the  government,  tyrannical  and 
unconstitutional  laws  have  been  enacted  and  en 
forced  ; 

"  The  right  of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  arms 
has  been  infringed;"^) 

t(  Test  oaths  of  an  extraordinary  and  entangling 
nature  have  been  imposed  as  a  condition  of  exer 
cising  the  right  of  suffrage  and  holding  office;"  (2) 


6  THE    REPUBLICAN    PLATFORM. 

"  The  right  of  an  accused  person  to  a  speedy  and 
public  trial  by  an  impartial  jury  has  been  denied ;"(3) 
"The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their 
persons,  houses,  papers,  and  effects,  against  un 
reasonable  searches  and  seizures,  has  becii  vio 
lated;"^) 

"They  have  been  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  and 
property,  without  due  process  of  law;"  (5) 

"  The  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press  has  been 
abridged ; "  (6) 

The  right  to  choose  their  representatives  has 
been  made  of  no  effect ; 

Murders,  robberies,  and  arsons  have  been  insti 
gated  and  encouraged,  and  the  offenders  have 
been  allowed  to  go  unpunished  ; 

That  all  these  things  have  been  done  with  the 
knowledge,  sanction,  and  procurement  of  the  pres 
ent  national  administration,  and  that  for  this  high 
crime  against  the  Constitution,  the  Union,  and 
humanity  we  arraign  that  administration,  the  Pres 
ident,  his  advisers,  agents,  supporters,  apologists, 
and  accessories,  either  before  or  after  the  fact, 
before  the  country  and  before  the  world ;  and  that 
it  is  our  fixed  purpose  to  bring  the  actual  perpe 
trators  of  these  atrocious  outrages,  and  their  ac 
complices,  to  a  sure  and  condign  punishment  here 
after. 


THE    REPUBLICAN   PLATFORM.  7 

Resolved,  That  Kansas  should  be  immediately 
admitted  as  a  State  of  this  Union,  with  her  pres 
ent  free  Constitution,  as  at  once  the  most  effectual 
way  of  securing  to  her  citizens  the  enjoyment  of 
the  rights  and  privileges  to  which  they  are  enti 
tled,  and  of  ending  the  civil  strife  now  raging  in 
her  territory. 

Resolved,  That  the  highwayman's  plea  that 
might  makes  right,  embodied  in  the  Ostend  Cir 
cular,  was  in  every  respect  unworthy  of  American 
diplomacy,  and  would  bring  shame  and  dishonor 
upon  any  government  or  people  that  gave  it  their 
sanction. 

Resolved,  That  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
by  the  most  central  practical  route,  is  imperatively 
demanded  by  the  interests  of  the  whole  country, 
and  that  the  federal  government  ought  to  render 
immediate  and  sufficient  aid  in  the  construction, 
and  as  an  auxiliary  thereto,  to  the  immediate  con 
struction  of  an  emigrant  road  on  the  line  of  the 
railroad. 

Resolved,  That  appropriations  by  Congress  for 
the  improvement  of  rivers  and  harbors  of  a  na 
tional  character  required  for  the  accommodation 
and  security  of  an  existing  commerce,  are  author 
ized  by  the  Constitution,  and  justified  by  the  obli 
gations  of  government  to  protect  the  lives  and 
property  of  its  citizens. 


8  THE    REPUBLICAN   PLATFORM. 

Resolved,  That  we  invite  the  affiliation  and  co 
operation  of  men  of  all  parties,  however  differing 
from  us  in  other  respects,  in  support  of  the  prin 
ciples  herein  declared,  and  believing  that  the 
spirit  of  our  institutions,  as  well  as  the  Constitu 
tion  of  our  country,  guarantees  liberty  of  con 
science  and  equality  of  rights  among  citizens,  we 
oppose  all  legislation  impairing  their  security. 

(1)  See  Constitution,  Amendments,  Article  IT. 

(2)  See  Constitution,  Article  VI.,  §  3. 

(3)  See  Constitution,  Amendments,  Article  VI. 

(4)  See  Constitution,  Amendments,  Article  IV. 

(5)  See  Constitution.  Amendments,  Article  V. 

(6)  See  Constitution,  Amendments,  Article  I. 


JOHN  CHARLES  FEEMONT, 

THE   REPUBLICAN  CANDIDATE    FOR    PRESIDENT 
OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


The  following  sketch  of  the  life  of  this  distinguished  man, 
who  will  be,  if  he  lives,  the  next  President  of  the  United  States, 
we  take  from  the  New  York  Tribune. 

JOHN  C.  FREMONT,  whom  the  People's  Con 
vention  at  Philadelphia  have  selected  to  head  the 
grand  exploring  expedition  in  search  of  the  lost 
and  almost  forgotten  landmarks  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  is  still  a  young  man.  His  father,  who  died 
when  he  was  a  child,  was  a  Frenchman,  his  mother 
a  Virginian.  He  was  born  at  Savannah  on  the 
21st  of  January,  1813,  and  educated  at  Charleston, 
South  Carolina,  where  his  mother,  left  a  widow 
with  three  children,  had  taken  up  her  residence. 
The  circumstances  of  the  family  were  exceedingly 
narrow,  and  the  childhood  of  Fremont  was  sur 
rounded  by  privations  and  difficulties  which  with 

(9) 


10  JOHN   CHARLES    FREMONT. 

a  powerful  nature  like  his,  naturally  tended  to  de 
velop  the  heroic  elements  of  his  character. 

At  Charleston,  Fremont  enjoyed  the  instruc 
tions  of  Dr.  John  Robertson,  who,  in  the  preface 
to  a  translation  of  Zenophon's  Retreat  of  the  Ten 
Thousand,  which  he  published  in  1850,  records 
with  pride  the  remarkable  proficiency  of  his  pupil. 
In  1828  he  entered  the  junior  class  of  Charleston 
College.  After  leaving  which  he  employed  him 
self  for  some  time  as  a  teacher  of  mathematics. 
In  1833  he  obtained  that  post  on  board  the  sloop- 
of-war  Natchez,  which  had  been  sent  to  Charleston 
to  put  down  the  nullifiers  (a  purpose  similar  to 
that  for  which  he  is  now  nominated  for  President), 
and  on  board  of  her  he  made  a  cruise  of  two 
years  and  a  half.  On  his  return  he  adopted  the 
profession  of  a  surveyor  and  railroad  engineer, 
and  was  employed  in  that  capacity  under  Captain 
Williams  of  the  Topographical  Engineers  in  the 
survey  of  a  route  from  Charleston  to  Cincinnati. 
When  this  survey  was  suspended,  he  accompanied 
Captain  Williams  in  a  reconnoissance  of  the  coun 
try  then  occupied  by  the  Cherokees,  after  which  he 
joined  M.  Nicolet,  a  distinguished  French  savan  in 
the  employ  of  the  United  States,  in  an  exploring 
expedition  over  the  north-western  prairies.  He 
was  employed  in  this  survey,  in  which  he  acted  as 


JOHN    CHARLES    FREMONT.  11 

principal  assistant,  during  the  years  1838  and  1839, 
and  while  absent  upon  it  was  appointed  a  Second 
Lieutenant  in  the  Corps  of  Topographical  Engi 
neers.  While  reducing  the  materials  of  this  sur 
vey,  and  preparing  maps  and  a  report,  he  resided 
for  some  time  at  Washington,  where  he  formed 
the  acquaintance  of  the  family  of  Mr.  Benton,  re 
sulting  in  his  marriage ,  in  1841,  to  one  of  Mr 
Benton's  daughters. 

Shortly  after,  in  May,  1842,  he  started  on  the 
first  of  his  three  great  exploring  expeditions.  This 
expedition,  which  occupied  about  five  months,  re 
sulted  in  the  exploration  of  the  famous  South  Pass 
across  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  in  the  ascent  by 
Fremont  and  four  of  his  men  of  the  Wind  River 
Peak,  the  highest  summit  of  the  Rocky  Mountain 
chain.  The  report  of  this  exploration  attracted 
great  attention,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  as  well 
for  its  unpretending  modesty  as  for  the  impor 
tance  of  the  information  contained  in  it.  This 
report  was  scarcely  published  when  its  author 
started  on  a  second  expedition  designed  to  con 
nect  the  discoveries  of  the  first  one  with  the  sur 
veys  to  be  made  by  Commodore  Wilkes  of  the 
Exploring  Expedition  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and 
thus  to  embrace  a  connected  survey  of  the  almost 
unknown  regions  on  both  sides  of  the  Rocky 


12  JOHN   CHARLES    FREMONT. 

Mountains.  The  party,  including  thirty-nine  per 
sons,  started  from  the  village  of  Kansas  on  the 
29th  of  May,  1843,  and  were  employed  in  the  ex 
ploration  till  August  of  the  next  year.  It  was  this 
exploration  that  first  furnished  any  accurate  in 
formation  as  to  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  the  great 
interior  basin  of  Utah,  and  the  mountain  range  of 
the  Sierra  Nevada,  and  first  brought  to  light,  as  it 
were,  the  region  now  constituting  the  Territory 
of  Utah  and  the  State  of  California. 

After  preparing  the  report  of  this  expedition  in 
the  spring  of  1845,  Fremont,  now  a  captain,  set 
out  on  a  third  expedition  designed  to  make  a  more 
particular  survey  of  the  regions  which  he  had  pre 
viously  visited.  It  was  while  engaged  in  this  ex 
pedition,  and  before  he  had  received  any  intima 
tion  of  the  commencement  of  the  war  with  Mexico, 
that,  after  having  himself  been  once  ordered  off 
by  the  authorities,  he  was  induced  by  the  entrea 
ties  of  the  American  settlers  in  the  valley  of  the  Sa 
cramento,  whom  the  Mexicans  threatened  to  drive 
out  of  the  country,  to  put  himself  at  their  head. 
Thus  led,  they  defeated  the  Mexicans.  Fremont 
put  himself  into  communication  with  the  naval 
commanders  on  the  coast,  and  soon  in  conjunction 
with  Commodore  Stockton,  obtained  complete  pos 
session  of  California,  of  which,  on  the  24th  of  Au- 


JOHN    CHARLES    FREMONT.  13 

gust,  he  was  appointed  by  Stockton,  Military  Com 
mander.  The  fighting,  however,  was  not  yet  over. 
The  Califbrnians  rose  in  insurrection  ;  but  the 
arrival  of  General  Kearney  with  his  dragoons 
from  New  Mexico,  enabled  the  Americans,  after 
some  hard-fought  battles,  to  maintain  themselves 
in  possession.  Pending  these  operations,  a  com 
mission  arrived  for  Fremont  as  Lieutenant-Colonel 
—  a  promotion  which  neither  he  nor  his  friends 
had  solicited,  but  which  he  gladly  received  as  a 
ratification  on  the  part  of  the  government  of  his 
intervention,  on  his  own  responsibility,  in  the  af 
fairs  of  California. 

From  the  moment  of  Kearney's  arrival  a  dis 
pute  had  sprung  up  between  him  and  Commodore 
Stockton  as  to  the  chief  command.  Kearney  sought 
to  throw  upon  Fremont  the  responsibility  of  de 
ciding  between  their  respective  claims.  This  he 
declined,  professing  his  readiness,  if  they  would 
agree  between  themselves,  to  obey  either ;  but  de 
claring  his  intention,  till  that  point  was  settled,  to 
continue  to  obey  the  commander  under  whom  he, 
had  first  placed  himself,  and  by  whom  the  war  had, 
been  conducted.  Kearney  was  greatly  dissatis 
fied  at  this,  but  dissembled  his  resentment  till  they 
both  reached  Fort  Leavenworth  on  their  return 
home,  when  he  arrested  Fremont  for  disobedi- 


14  JOHN    CHARLES    FREMONT. 

enee  of  orders  and  brought  him  to  trial  before  a 
court-martial. 

As  this  court  held  that  Kearney  was  the  right 
ful  commander,  they  found  Fremont  guilty  of  the 
charges,  and  sentenced  him  to  be  dismissed  from 
the  service.  Mr.  Polk,  then  President,  signed  the 
sentence  as  being  technically  right,  but  at  the 
same  time  offered  Fremont  a  new  commission  of 
the  same  grade  as  that  of  which  he  had  been 
deprived.  This  Fremont  refused,  and  returned  a 
simple  citizen  to  private  life.  Thus,  discharged 
from  the  service  of  the  government,  he  undertook 
a  fourth  exploring  expedition  of  his  own,  with  a 
view  to  discover  a  passage  across  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains  southerly  of  the  South  Pass,  near  the  head 
of  the  Arkansas,  which  might  serve  the  purpose 
of  a  railroad  communication  with  California.  He 
started  from  Pueblo,  on  the  Upper  Arkansas,  with 
thirty-three  men  and  a  hundred  and  thirty-three 
mules  ;  but,  misled  by  his  guides,  all  his  mules  and 
a  third  of  his  men  perished  in  the  snows  and  cold 
of  the  Sierra  San  Juan,  and  he  himself  arrived  on 
foot  at  Santa  Fe  with  the  loss  of  every  thing  but 
his  life.  Not,  however,  to  be  baffled,  he  refitted 
the  expedition,  and  in  a  hundred  days,  after  fresh 
dangers,  reached  the  banks  of  the  Sacramento. 

In  the  rising  State  of  California  in  which  he 


JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT.         15 

had  become  one  of  the  earliest  American  proprie 
tors  by  the  purchase  during  his  former  visit  of  the 
since  famous  Mariposa  grant,  Mr.  Fremont  took  a 
great  interest.  He  was  active  in  the  formation 
of  the  State  constitution,  and  in  securing  in  that 
document  a  positive  exclusion  of  Slavery,  and  was 
chosen  one  of  the  first  Senators  to  represent  the 
new  State  in  Congress.  A  short  term  of  two  years 
fell  to  his  lot,  and,  owing  to  the  delay  in  the  ad 
mission  of  the  State,  he  sat  in  the  Senate  only 
one  short  session.  On  the  expiration  of  his  term 
the  political  control  of  the  State  had  passed  into 
new  hands,  of  which  a  striking  proof  was  given  in 
the  choice  of  John  B.  Weller,  a  decided  Pro-Sla 
very  man,  as  his  successor  in  the  Senate. 

Mr.  Fremont  now  devoted  himself  to  develop 
ing  the  resources  of  his  California  estate,  which 
had  been  discovered  to  be  rich  in  gold ;  but,  in 
addition  to  the  loss  of  his  commission,  as  the  only 
reward  he  had  realized  for  his  services  in  Califor 
nia,  he  now  found  himself  greatly  annoyed  by 
claims  against  him  for  supplies  which,  during  his 
campaign  in  California,  had  been  furnished  to  the 
United  States  on  his  private  credit  During  a 
visit  to  London  he  was  arrested  on  one  of  these 
claims,  and  it  was  only  afler  great  delay  that  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  was  finally 


16  JOHN    CHARLES    FREMONT. 

induced  to  relieve  him  from  further  annoyance 
by  the  payment  of  these  debts.  In  maintaining 
his  right  to  the  Mariposa  property,  he  was  also 
obliged  to  encounter  many  annoyances  on  the 
part  of  the  government  which  resisted  his  claim, 
but  finally,  by  repeated  decisions  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  he  triumphed  over  all 
of  them. 

Having  exhibited  a  singular  force  of  character 
and  a  distinguished  ability  in  every  undertaking 
to  which  he  has  applied  himself,  he  has  now  been 
called  by  the  loud  voice  of  his  fellow-citizens  in 
almost  all  parts  of  the  Union,  to  place  himself  at 
the  head  of  a  new,  more  difficult,  but  at  the  same 
time  most  glorious  enterprise  —  that  of  rescuing 
the  Government  and  the  Union  from  the  hands  of 
a  body  of  unprincipled  politicians,  who  threaten  to 
subject  the  country  to  the  double  misery  of  despot 
ism  and  of  anarchy.  May  he  be  as  successful  in 
this  as  in  every  thing  else  that  he  has  undertaken  ! 
And  that  he  will  be,  who  can  doubt  ?  for  surely 
every  honest  man  in  the  country  will  hasten  to  aid 
him  with  his  voice  and  his  vote. 


WILLIAM  LEWIS  DAYTON, 

THE   REPUBLICAN    CANDIDATE    FOR    VICE- 
PRESIDENT. 


We  are  indebted  to  the  able  editor  of  the  Boston  Chronicle 
for  the  following  sketch  of  this  eminent  statesman. 

WILLIAM  LEWIS  DAYTON,  the  Republican 
candidate  for  Vice-President,  belongs  to  an  old 
revolutionary  family  of  New  Jersey,  a  State  that 
has  produced  a  large  number  of  eminent  men, 
whose  names  are  imperishably  recorded  on  the 
pages  of  their  country's  history.  The  Daytons 
were  among  the  early  settlers  of  New  Jersey. 
They  were  people  of  good  standing  in  the  colo 
nial  times,  and  in  the  Revolution  became  conspic 
uous  for  their  services  in  the  patriotic  cause.  Elias 
Dayton  was  a  General  of  Brigade.  His  son,  Jon 
athan  Dayton,  was  conspicuous  as  a  member  of 
the  national  legislature,  and  was  elected  speaker 
of  the  House  of  Representatives  in  1795.  Joel 

(17) 


18  WILLIAM    LE/V1S    DAYTON. 

Dayton,  a  farmer,  and  not  a  public  man,  resided 
at  Baskenridge.  His  eldest  son  was  WILLIAM 
LEWIS  DAYTON,  who  was  born  on  the  1 7th  of 
February,  1807.  He  was  graduated  at  the  Col 
lege  of  New  Jersey,  in  1825.  He  made  choice  of 
the  legal  profession,  but  want  of  health  prevented 
his  being  admitted  to  the  bar  until  five  years  later, 
in  1830.  He  studied  with  Governor  Vroom,  one 
of  the  first  lawyers  of  the  country.  In  1835,  he 
was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Senate  of  New  Jer 
sey,  though  Monmouth  county,  in  which  he  re 
sided,  was  a  strong  Democratic  place,  and  Mr. 
Dayton  was  a  thorough-going  Whig.  We  believe 
the  county  was  never  before  or  afterwards  carried 
by  the  Whigs.  It  shows  how  popular  he  must 
have  been  to  be  able  to  cause  his  political  oppo 
nents  so  completely  to  "  conquer  their  prejudices," 
for  in  those  days  the  lines  of  division  were  strongly 
drawn  between  the  Whigs  and  the  Democrats. 
Appointed  to  the  chairmanship  of  the  Judiciary 
Committee,  Mr.  Dayton  was  instrumental  in  effect 
ing  valuable  legal  reforms,  a  fact  that  shows  his 
superiority  to  professional  influences,  lawyers  being 
generally  conservative  in  all  their  ideas,  and  par 
ticularly  averse  to  changes  in  modes  of  legal  pro 
cedure.  The  next  year  he  was  made  a  justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  New  Jersey,  and,  though 
2 


WILL!  .M    LEWIS    DAYTON.  19 

he  was  but  twenty-nine  years  old,  he  early  ob 
tained  a  high  reputation  as  a  jurist.  No  name 
stands  higher  than  his  on  the  roll  of  the  Judges 

"  O 

of  New  Jersey.  He  held  the  office  three  years, 
at  the  end  of  which  time  he  returned  to  the  bar, 
and  soon  became  its  head,  as  for  some  time  before 
he  had  been  one  of  its  most  brilliant  ornaments. 

Mr.  Dayton's  career  as  a  national  statesman  com 
menced  in  1842,  when  he  was  in  his  thirty-sixth 
year.  Samuel  L.  Southard,  a  man  of  the  highest 
talent  and  reputation,  arid  who  had  done  much  to 
elevate  the  character  of  New  Jersey  in  the  na 
tional  councils,  died  that  year.  At  the  time  of  his 
death  he  was  a  member  of  the  United  States  Sen 
ate,  in  which  body  he  had  served  for  many  years. 
The  legislature  of  New  Jersey  not  being  in  ses 
sion  at  the  time,  a  vacancy  was  thus  caused  in  that 
State's  delegation  ;  it  was  filled  by  Executive  ap 
pointment,  and  Governor  Pennington  named 
Judge  Dayton  to  fill  it.  This  appointment  was 
approved  by  the  legislature,  which  elected  Mr. 
Dayton  to  serve  out  the  balance  of  Mr.  Southard's 
term.  That  term  expiring  in  1845,  he  was  re- 
elected  for  a  full  term  of  six  years.  He  served  in 
the  Senate  from  the  6th  of  July,  1842,  to  the  4th 
of  March,  1851.  He  soon  became  known  to  the 
nation  as  one  of  the  ablest  members  of  the  Senate, 


20  WILLIAM   LEWIS    DAYTON. 

which  then  commanded  the  highest  respect  of  the 
people,  a  position  which  in  these  latter  days  it  has 
done  much  to  forfeit  by  its  servility  to  executive 
power.  He  spoke  on  the  various  great  questions 
that  came  before  the  Senate,  and  his  speeches 
were  remarkable  for  the  evidences  they  contained 
of  various,  extensive,  and  well-digested  attain 
ments,  their  vigorous  logic,  and  their  strict  per 
tinence  to  the  subjects  under  discussion.  No  sen 
ator  was  more  respected,  or  enjoyed  a  larger 
measure  of  public  confidence  and  esteem.  His 
retirement  from  the  public  service  was  a  loss  that 
was  felt,  the  more  so  that  the  Senate  was  losing 
its  high  character  through  the  withdrawal  from  it 
of  many  of  its  oldest  and  best  members.  We 
have  understood  that  if  President  Taylor  had 
lived,  Senator  Dayton  was  to  have  been  appointed 
to  one  of  the  first  diplomatic  posts  within  his  gift, 
and  doubtless  he  would  have  filled  the  place  with 
that  usefulness  which  has  marked  all  his  official 
life. 

The  nomination  of  Mr.  Dayton  is  on  all  ac 
counts  an  excellent  one.  His  long  experience  in 
the  Senate  has  made  him  familiar  with  the  order 
of  proceeding  in  that  body,  and  qualified  him  to 
preside  over  its  deliberations.  His  character  is 
vjure,  and  commends  him  to  the  confidence  of  the 


WILLIAM    LEWIS    DAYTON.  21 

people.  It  was  due  to  the  Whigs,  so  many  of 
whom  are  engaged  in  the  movement  against  the 
extension  of  slavery,  that  one  of  the  nominees 
should  be  selected  from  among  their  old  leaders, 
and  in  naming  Mr.  Dayton  as  the  candidate  for 
the  Vice-Presidency,  the  Philadelphia  Convention 
did  no  more  than  justice  to  a  numerous  and  influ 
ential  portion  of  the  opposition,  whose  hostility  to 
the  encroachments  of  slavery  in  past  times  is  the 
best  guaranty  for  their  present  sincerity  and  for 
their  future  labors  being  rightly  directed.  On  the 
leading  question  of  the  day,  that  to  settle  which  in 
favor  of  freedom  has  caused  so  many  old  political 
foes  to  forget  past  quarrels,  and  to  unite  in  order 
the  better  to  labor  for  their  country's  welfare,  Mr. 
Dayton's  views  are  every  thing  that  could  be  de 
sired.  He  is  no  sudden  convert  to  the  party  of 
freedom,  as  the  views  of  that  party  concerning  the 
power  of  Congress  to  legislate  with  respect  to  sla 
very  in  the  territories  were  entertained  by  him 
years  ago,  and  were  boldly  expressed  long  before 
the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  was  thought 
of.  "  It  does  seem  to  me,"  he  said,  in  his  speech 
on  the  Treaty  with  Mexico,  "  that  if  there  ever 
were  any  doubts  on  this  question  as  to  the  power 
of  Congress  to  legislate  with  respect  to  slavery  in 
the  territories,  those  doubts  must  be  held  settled 


22  WILLIAM   LEWIS    DAYTON. 

by  the  past  conduct  of  the  government."     It  is 
well   known   that  President  Taylor   intended  to 
settle   the  disputes  about  slavery  that  he  found 
existing  when  he  came  into  power,  in  a  manner 
which  would  have  been  very  liberal  to  the  North, 
and  at  the  same  time  have  been  strictly  just  to  the 
South.     His   death  —  the    most   serious   loss  our 
country  ever  sustained  in  that  way,  as  it  opened 
up  the  political  field  to  a  gang  of  political  agita 
tors,  who  sought  to  make  "  political  capital "  out 
of  the  slavery  question  — caused  the  failure  of  his 
plans,  and  the  triumph  of  the  pro-slavery  interest 
Under  the  lead  of  Northern  flunkies.     Mr.  Dayton 
was  one  of  the  most  intimate  and  influential  advis 
ers  of  President  Taylor,  in  this  matter,  and  was 
first  among  those  who  were  relied  upon  to  carry 
the  proper  measures  through  the   Senate.     The 
country  would  never  have  been  cursed,  and   in 
sulted,  and  degraded  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  by 
the  passage  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  had  the 
views  of  Mr.  Dayton  and  his  friends  prevailed,  — 
as  would  have  been  the  case  had  President  Taylor 
lived.     Such  a  man  is  well  worthy  of  the  votes  of 
all  who  would  have  something  done  to  put  a  stop 
to  the  usurpations  of  the  slave  power,  and  who 
would  have  the  high  places  of  government  filled 
with  high-minded  and  able  statesmen.     The  oppo- 


WILLIAM   LEWIS    DAYTON.  23 

sition  can  carry  the  country  if  they  choose  to  do 
so.  They  have  it  in  their  power,  through  union, 
to  strike  down  the  revolutionists  at  Washington, 
and  to  place  the  government  once  more  in  the 
hands  of  men  who  will  administer  it  according  to 
the  terms  of  the  Constitution.  With  such  candi 
dates  as  FREMONT  and  DAYTON  they  can  unite 
with  perfect  propriety,  those  candidates  being  the 
representatives  of  ideas  that  are  entertained  by 
three  fourths  of  the  voters  of  the  country,  and 
which  therefore  ought  to  predominate  in  and  con 
trol  the  councils  of  government.  Union  is  vic 
tory  always,  but  it  is  emphatically  so  in  this  elec 
tion,  on  the  part  of  the  opposition.  The  very  fact 
that  the  electoral  system  operates  most  unequally 
against  us  should  cause  us  to  contend  the  more 
earnestly,  so  that  our  success  shall  be  the  more 
striking,  and  more  the  result  of  our  labors  than  of 
the  favors  of  fortune. 


COL,  FREMONT'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPT 
ANCE. 


NEW  YORK,  July  8,  1856. 

Gentlemen — You  call  me  to  a  high  responsibility  by 
placing  me  in  the  van  of  a  great  movement  of  the  peo 
ple  of  the  United  States,  who,  without  regard  to  past 
differences,  are  uniting  in  a  common  effort  to  bring 
back  the  action  of  the  Federal  Government  to  the  prin 
ciples  of  Washington  and  Jefferson.  Comprehending 
the  magnitude  of  the  trust  which  they  have  declared 
themselves  willing  to  place  in  my  hands,  and  deeply 
sensible  to  the  honor  which  their  unreserved  confidence 
in  this  threatening  position  of  the  public  affairs  im 
plies,  I  feel  that  I  cannot  better  respond  than  by  a 
sincere  declaration  that,  in  the  event  of  my  election 
to  the  Presidency,  I  should  enter  upon  the  execution 
of  its  duties  with  a  single-hearted  determination  to 
promote  the  good  of  the  whole  country,  and  to  direct 
solely  to  this  end  all  the  power  of  the  government, 
irrespective  9f  party  issues,  and  regardless  of  sec 
tional  strifes. 

The  declaration  of  principles  embodied  in  the  re- 

24 


COL.  FREMONT'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE.        25 

solves  of  your  Convention,  expresses  the  sentiments 
in  which  I  have  been  educated,  and  which  have  been 
ripened  into  convictions  by  personal  observation  and 
experience.  With  this  declaration  and  avowal,  I 
think  it  necessary  to  revert  to  only  two  of  the  sub 
jects  embraced  in  the  resolutions,  and  to  those  only 
because  events  have  surrounded  them  with  grave  and 
critical  circumstances,  and  given  to  them  especial 
importance. 

I  concur  in  the  views  of  the  Convention  deprecat 
ing  the  foreign  policy  to  which  it  adverts.  The  as 
sumption  that  we  have  the  right  to  take  from  another 
nation  its  domains,  because  we  want  them,  is  an 
abandonment  of  the  honest  character  which  our  coun 
try  has  acquired.  To  provoke  hostilities  by  unjust 
assumptions,  would  be  to  sacrifice  the  peace  and  char 
acter  of  the  country,  when  all  its  interests  might  be 
more  certainly  secured  and  its  objects  attained  by 
just  and  healing  counsels,  involving  no  loss  of  repu 
tation. 

International  embarrassments  are  mainly  the  re 
sults  of  a  secret  diplomacy,  which  aims  to  keep  from 
the  knowledge  of  the  people  the  operations  of  the 
government.  This  system  is  inconsistent  with  the 
character  of  our  institutions,  and  is  itself  yielding 
gradually  to  a  more  enlightened  public  opinion,  and 
to  the  power  of  a  free  press,  which,  by  its  broad  dis 
semination  of  political  intelligence,  secures  in  advance 


26         COL.  FREMONT'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

to  the  side  of  justice  the  judgment  of  the  civilized 
world.  An  honest,  firm  and  open  policy  in  our  foreign 
relations,  would  command  the  united  support  of  the 
nation,  whose  deliberate  opinions  it  would  necessarily 
reflect. 

Nothing  is  clearer  in  the  history  of  our  institutions 
than  the  design  of  the  nation  in  asserting  its  own 
independence  and  freedom  to  avoid  giving  counte 
nance  to  the  extension  of  slavery.  The  influence  of 
the  small,  but  compact  and  powerful  class  of  men  in 
terested  in  slavery,  who  command  one  section  of  the 
country,  and  wield  a  vast  political  control  as  a  conse 
quence,  in  the  other,  is  now  directed  to  turn  back  this 
impulse  of  the  revolution,  and  reverse  its  principles. 
The  extension  of  slavery  across  the  continent  is  the 
object  of  the  power  which  now  rules  the  government, 
and  from  this  spirit  has  sprung  those  kindred  wrongs 
in  Kansas,  so  truly  portrayed  in  one  of  your  resolu 
tions,  which  prove  that  the  elements  of  the  most  ar 
bitrary  governments  have  been  vanquished  by  the 
just  theory  of  our  own. 

It  would  be  out  of  place  here  to  pledge  myself  to 
any  particular  policy  that  may  be  suggested  to  ter 
minate  the  sectional  controversy  engendered  by  po 
litical  animosities  operating  on  a  powerful  class, 
banded  together  by  a  common  interest.  A  practical 
remedy  is  the  admission  of  Kansas  into  the  Union  as 
a  free  State.  The  South  should,  in  my  judgment, 


27 

earnestly  desire  such  a  consummation.  It  would  vin 
dicate  its  good  faith ;  it  would  correct  the  mistake  of 
the  repeal,  and  the  North,  having  practically  the 
benefit  of  the  agreement  between  the  two  sections, 
would  be  satisfied,  and  good  feeling  be  restored.  The 
measure  is  perfectly  consistent  with  the  honor  of  the 
South,  and  vital  to  its  interests. 

That  fatal  act  which  gave  birth  to  this  purely  sec 
tional  strife,  originating  in  the  scheme  to  take  from 
free  labor  the  country  secured  to  it  by  a  solemn  cove 
nant,  cannot  be  too  soon  disarmed  of  its  pernicious 
force.  The  only  genial  region  of  the  middle  lati 
tudes  left  to  the  emigrants  of  the  Northern  States  for 
homes,  cannot  be  conquered  from  the  free  laborers, 
who  have  long  considered  it  as  set  apart  for  them  in 
our  inheritance,  without  provoking  a  desperate  strug 
gle.  Whatever  may  be  the  persistence  of  the  particular 
class  which  seems  ready  to  hazard  everything  for  the 
success  of  the  unjust  scheme  it  has  partially  effected, 
I  firmly  believe  that  the  great  heart  of  the  nation 
which  throbs  with  the  patriotism  of  the  free  men  of 
both  sections,  will  have  power  to  overcome  it.  They 
will  look  to  the  rights  secured  to  them  by  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  Union,  as  their  best  safeguard  from  the 
oppression,  of  the  class,  which  by  a  monopoly  of  the 
soil,  and  of  slave  labor  to  till  it,  might,  in  time,  re 
duce  them  to  the  extremity  of  laboring  upon  the  same 
terms  with  the  slaves.  The  great  body  of  non-slave- 


28         OOL.  FREMONT'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

holding  freemen,  including  those  of  the  South,  upon 
whose  welfare  slavery  is  an  oppression,  will  discover 
that  the  power  of  the  General  Government  over  the 
public  lands  may  be  beneficially  exerted  to  advance 
their  interests  and  secure  their  independence.  Know 
ing  this,  their  suffrages  will  not  be  wanting  to 
maintain  that  authority  in  the  Union,  which  is 
absolutely  essential  to  the  maintenance  of  their  own 
liberties,  and  which  has  more  than  once  indicated  the 
purpose  of  disposing  of  the  public  lands  in  such  a 
way  as  would  make  every  settler  upon  them  a  free 
holder. 

If  the  people  entrust  to  me  the  administration  of 
the  Government,  the  laws  of  Congress  in  relation  to 
the  Territories  will  be  faithfully  executed.  All  its 
authority  will  be  exerted  in  aid  of  the  National  will 
to  re-establish  the  peace  of  the  country,  on  the  just 
principles  which  have  heretofore  received  the  sanc 
tion  of  the  Federal  Government,  of  the  States,  and  of 
the  people  of  both  sections.  Such  a  policy  would 
leave  no  aliment  to  that  sectional  party  which  seeks 
its  aggrandisement  by  appropriating  the  new  terri 
tories  to  capital  in  the  form  of  slavery,  but  would  in 
evitably  result  in  the  triumph  of  free  labor,  the 
natural  capital  which  constitutes  the  real  wealth  of 
this  great  country,  and  creates  that  intelligent  power 
in  the  masses  alone  to  be  relied  on  as  the  bulwark  of 
free  institutions. 


29 

Trusting  that  I  have  a  heart  capable  of  compre 
hending  our  whole  country  with  its  varied  interests, 
and  confident  that  patriotism  exists  in  all  parts  of 
the  Union,  I  accept  the  nomination  of  your  Conven 
tion  in  the  hope  that  I  may  be  enabled  to  serve  use 
fully  its  cause,  which  I  consider  the  cause  of  Con- 
Btitutional  Freedom. 

Very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant. 

J.  C.  FREMONT. 
To  Henry  S.  Lane,  President  of  the  Convention. 


JUDGE  DAYTON'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPT- 
ANCE. 


TRENTON,  N.  J.,  July  7,  1856. 

Gentlemen — I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the 
receipt  of  your  letter  informing  me  that,  at  a  Con 
vention  of  Delegates,  recently  assembled  in  Phila 
delphia,  I  was  unanimously  nominated  as  their  can 
didate  for  the  Vice  Presidency  of  the  United  States, 
and  requesting  my  acceptance  of  such  nomination. 

For  the  distinguished  honor  thus  conferred,  be 
pleased  to  accept  for  yourselves  and  in  behalf  of  the 
Convention  you  represent,  my  sincere  thanks. 


30        JUDGE  DAYTON'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

I  have  only  to  add,  that  having  carefully  examined 
the  resolutions  adopted  in  that  Convention,  as  indi 
cating  the  principles  by  which  it  was  governed,  I 
find  them,  in  their  general  features,  such  as  have 
heretofore  had  my  hearty  support.  My  opinions  and 
votes  against  the  extension  of  slavery  into  free  terri 
tory,  are  of  record  and  well  known.  Upon  that  record 
I  am  willing  to  stand.  Certainly  nothing  has  since 
occurred  which  would  tend  to  modify  my  opinions 
previously  expressed  upon  that  subject.  On  the  con 
trary,  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  (that 
greatest  wrong,  portentous  of  mischief,)  but  adds 
strength  to  the  conviction,  that  these  constant  en 
croachments  must  be  calmly,  but  firmly,  met ; — that 
this  repealing  Act  should  be  itself  repealed,  or  reme 
died  by  every  just  and  constitutional  means  in  our 
power. 

I  very  much  deprecate  all  sectional  issues.  I  have 
not  been  in  the  past,  nor  shall  I  be  in  the  future,  in 
strumental  in  fostering  such  issues.  But  the  repeal 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and,  as  a  consequence, 
the  extension  of  slavery,  are  no  issues  raised  by  us  ; 
they  are  issues  forced  upon  us,  and  we  act  but  in 
self-defence  when  we  repel  them.  That  section  of 
the  country  which  presents  these  issues  is  responsible 
for  them  ;  and  it  is  this  sectionalism  which  has  sub 
verted  past  compromises,  and  now  seeks  to  force 
slavery  into  Kanzas.  In  reference  to  other  subjects 


31 


treated  of  in  the  resolutions  of  the  Convention,  I  find 
no  general  principle  or  rule  of  political  conduct  to 
which  I  cannot  and  do  not  yield  a  cordial  assent. 
But  while  thus  expressing  a  general  concurrence  in 
the  views  of  the  Convention,  I  cannot  but  remember 
that  the  Constitution  gives  to  the  Vice  President 
little  power  in  matters  of  general  legislation  ;  that 
he  has  not  even  a  vote  except  in  special  cases ;  and 
that  his  rights  and  duties  as  prescribed  in  that  in 
strument  are  limited  to  presiding  over  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States.  Should  I  be  elected  to  that  high 
office,  it  will  be  my  pleasure,  as  it  will  be  my  duty, 
to  conduct,  so  far  as  I  can,  the  business  of  that  body 
in  such  a  manner  as  will  best  comport  with  its  own 
dignity ;  in  strict  accordance  with  its  own  rules,  and 
with  a  just  and  courteous  regard  to  the  equal  rights 
and  privileges  of  all  its  members. 

Accepting  the  nomination  tendered  through  you,  as 
I  now  do,  1  am,  gentlemen, 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

WM.  L.  DAYTON. 

To  Henry  S.  Lane,  President  of  the  Convention. 


THE  REPUBLICAN  CANDIDATE. 


The  following  admirable  parallelism  between  WASHINGTON,  the 
father  of  his  country,  and  FREMONT,  the  finder  and  pre 
server  of  Republics,  we  copy  from  the  New  York  Indepen 
dent. 

As  our  readers  well  know,  we  were  not  of  the 
number  of  those  who  urged  most  strenuously  the 
selection  of  Colonel  Fremont  by  the  Convention 
at  Philadelphia,  as  the  standard-bearer,  in  the 
great  political  campaign  which  is  now  upon  us,  of 
those  principles  of  justice,  humanity,  and  liberty 
to  which  our  earnest  adherence  is  given.  While 
highly  appreciating,  and  heartily  admiring,  the  no 
ble  and  signal  qualities  of  this  gentleman,  we  felt 
a  desire  that  if  possible  some  well-tried  Captain  in 
the  ranks,  which  so  long  have  stood  unconquered 
for  the  Right,  should  be  selected  to  lead  them  to 
the  victory  which  is  now,  we  trust  and  believe. 
before  them.  But  since  this  selection  has  been 
made,  we  are  led  most  clearly  to  recognize  in  it 
the  good  hand  of  God ;  and  to  feel,  as  we  almost 
never  have  felt  hitherto,  that  Providence  has  raised 
up,  has  endowed,  and  has  trained  this  workman  for 
his  office,  the  Man  for  the  Hour.  If  the  election  in 
November  shall  result,  as  we  are  well  persuaded 
(32) 


THE   REPUBLICAN    CANDIDATE.  33 

that  it  will,  in  placing  him  in  the  chair  of  the 
President  of  these  United  States,  then  we  are 
compelled  to  say  that  in  no  one  instance  in  all  the 
history  of  our  nation,  since  the  freight  of  the  May 
flower  was  landed  at.  Plymouth,  will  the  guiding 
and  governing  mind  of  God,  interposing  for  our 
protection,  have  been  more  clearly  shown  than  in 
raising  him  up  to  meet  this  crisis. 

Young,  unworn,  entirely  fresh  in  political  life, 
there  are  upon  him  no  marks  of  past  controver 
sies,  there  are  about  him  no  odors  of  past  political 
errors,  or  partisan  wrongs.  Of  an  inventive, 
prompt,  and  discriminating  mind,  as  all  his  history 
shows,  and  now  in  the  full  and  perfect  prime  of 
every  power,  he  is  able  to  meet,  if  any  man  can, 
the  whole  demand  of  the  present  emergency.  Of 
French  extraction,  on  his  father's  side,  he  is  yet 
thoroughly  an  American,  by  birth,  by  training,  by 
his  maternal  ancestry,  and  by  all  his  ideas  of  gov 
ernment  and  of  religion.  Born  in  Georgia,  and 
educated  at  the  institutions  of  South  Carolina,  his 
chosen  home  has  still  been  at  the  West,  and  his 
ardor  for  freedom  has  never  failed  or  wavered 
A  child  of  poverty,  and  a  man  of  the  people,  his 
career  has  been  more  signally  heroic  than  that  of 
any  other  living  American ;  and  he  has  won  his 
steady  way  to  opulence  and  honor,  through  the 
unaccustomed  paths  of  self-denial  and  fortitude. 

Delicate  in  frame,  entirely  modest  and  unas 
suming  in  deportment,  he  has  inspired  the  love  of 
the  stalwart  and  fiery  pioneers  of  the  West,  as 
almost  no  man  before  has  done;  and  his  name 
would  now  rally  thousands  on  the  borders  to  any 


34  THE    REPUBLICAN     CANDIDATE. 

most  difficult  and  hazardous  enterprise.  Of  ex 
traordinary  executive  and  administrative  powers, 
he  combines  with  these  equally  the  tastes  of  the 
scholar,  the  practised  enterprise  and  skill  of  the 
soldier.  His  name  is  as  well  known  in  the  Old 
World  as  in  the  New,  And  while  the  South  has 
furnished  his  birthplace,  and  the  wildernesses  of 
the  West  the  chosen  scene  of  his  chief  exertions, 
California,  the  youngest  and  wealthiest  of  the 
States,  owes  to  him  her  exploration  and  her  sub 
sequent  conquest,  and  to  him  in  great  part  her 
present  freedom.  The  whole  country,  therefore, 
and  every  part  of  it,  has  an  interest  in  his  name. 
The  young  men  of  the  country,  especially,  must 
rally  to  him  as  their  natural  leader,  with  ready  en 
thusiasm.  His  very  name  seems  a  watchword  for 
liberty  ;  and  already  crowds  make  the  echoes  ring 
with  the  stirring  refrain  of  Free-soil,  Free-speech, 
Free-men,  and  FREMONT  ! 

With  him  in  the  Presidential  chair,  the  last 
threat  of  disunion  will  speedily  and  for  ever  be 
silenced  at  the  South.  The  bravos  who  steal  un 
suspected  into  the  Senate-chamber,  and  whose 
only  reply  to  an  argument  is  the  bludgeon,  will  be 
as  whist  as  a  London  pickpocket  with  the  po 
lice-man  beside  him,  before  the  intrepid  and  self- 
poised  will  of  him  who  has  faced  the  mountain- 
snows  wThile  they  were  daintily  dallying  at  home  ; 
of  him  whom  Indians  and  Mexicans  could  not 
acare  —  though  with  tenfold  his  force  —  now 
wielding  the  treasury  and  the  army  of  the  coun 
try.  2s ay,  with  him  in  that  chair  we  have  the 
firmest  conviction  that  all  sections  will  feel  safe. 


THE    REPUBLICAN   CANDIDATE.  35 

and  that  speedy  cairn  will  succeed  the  recent 
and  the  present  agitations ;  while  his  life  and  his 
words  give  the  amplest  guaranty  that  the  influence 
of  the  government  will  all  be  employed  on  the 
side  of  freedom  and  its  benign  order. 

It  is  somewhat  curious  to  notice  the  striking  cor 
respondences  between  the  history  of  this  young 
Republican  Captain,  and  that  of  him  whom  our 
fathers  took  as  their  leader,  in  the  first  great  strug 
gle  for  Liberty  on  this  continent.  A  part  of  these 
have  been  noticed  by  the  papers,  and  by  speakers. 
Others  we  have  not  seen  referred  to.  They  are 
interesting  and  suggestive.  Washington  was  left 
in  childhood,  by  the  death  of  his  father,  to  the 
charge  of  his  mother.  Fremont  was  so  likewise, 
at  a  still  earlier  period,  and  in  circumstances  cer 
tainly  much  less  auspicious.  Washington  had 
early  a  passion  for  the  sea,  so  strong  that  a  mid 
shipman's  warrant  was  obtained  for  him  by  his 
friends.  Fremont  went  to  sea,  and  was  there  em 
ployed  for  more  than  two  years.  Washington  was 
introduced  to  public  life  through  his  service  on 
the  frontiers,  as  a  surveyor  and  civil  engineer. 
Fremont  won  his  discipline  and  his  early  fame  in 
the  same  department,  and  by  his  use  and  practice 
in  it  became  fitted,  in  mind  and  body,  to  "  endure 
hardness."  Washington  learned  all  that  he  knew 
of  war  in  Indian  combats  and  the  strife  of  the  wil 
derness,  and  rose  thus  to  ,the  rank  of  Colonel  in 
the  provincial  troops.  Fremont's  school  was  the 
same,  and  he  has  gained  the  same  rank.  Washing 
ton  had  had  small  experience  as  a  legislator,  until 
he  was  called  to  the  head  of  the  Government.  He 


36  THE   REPUBLICAN    CANDIDATE. 

was  taken  for  his  well-tried  general  qualities,  and 
not  for  any  distinction  he  had  achieved  as  a  diplo 
matist  or  a  statesman ;  and  here  again  the  parallel 
holds.  Washington  was  sneered  at  by  the  men  of 
routine,  was  hated  and  assailed  by  the  tories  of 
that  day,  as  a  soldier  who  had  u  never  set  a  squad 
ron  in  the  field ; "  until  his  energy  and  patience 
drove  them  all  out  of  it.  The  same  class  of  at 
tacks  are  now  made  on  Fremont ;  to  be  answered 
we  trust,  in  the  same  impressive  way.  His  friends 
early  felt  that  Washington  was  specially  fitted  and 
preserved  of  Providence  to  become  the  head  of 
the  nation  ;  as  Rev.  Samuel  Davies  expressed  it, 
that  "  Providence  has  hitherto  preserved  him  in 
so  signal  a  manner  for  some  important  service  to 
his  country."  The  same  expectation,  becoming 
almost  a  premonition,  has  for  years  been  general 
among  the  friends  of  Fremont.  Dr.  Robertson, 
his  early  teacher,  expressed  it  in  the  preface  to  his 
edition  of  the  Anabasis,  published  years  ago,  in 
these  words :  u  Such,  my  young  friends,  is  an  im 
perfect  sketch  of  my  once  beloved  and  favorite 
pupil,  who  may  yet  rise  to  be  at  the  head  of  thit 
great  and  growing  Republic.  My  prayer  is  that 
he  may  ever  be  opposed  to  war,  injustice,  and  op 
pression  of  every  kind,  a  blessing  to  his  country, 
and  an  example  of  every  noble  virtue  to  the  whole 
world."  Washington  was  called  to  the  head  of 
the  army  at  the  age  of  forty-four ;  and  if  Colonel 
Fremont  shall  live  to  see  the  4th  of  March  next, 
we  confidently  expect  that  the  singular  parallel 
will  so  far  be  perfected ! 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE, 


AND 


CONSTITUTION 


OF    THE 


UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA, 


WITH    ITS 


AME  NDMENT  S 


CENSUS  OF  185O. 


BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED  BY  JOHN  P.  JEWETT  &  COMPANY 

CLEVELAND,    OHIO: 

JEWETT,  PROCTOR  &  WORTHINGTON. 

1856. 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 


WHEN,  in  the  course  of  human  events,  it  be 
comes  necessary  for  one  people  to  dissolve  the 
political  bands  which  have  connected  them  with 
another,  and  to  assume  among  the  powers  of  the 
earth  the  separate  and  equal  station  to  which  the 
laws  of  nature  and  of  nature's  God  entitle  them, 
a  decent  respect  to  the  opinions  of  mankind  re 
quires  that  they  should  declare  Mie  causes  which 
impel  them  to  the  separation. 

We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident — that 
all  men  are  created  equal  ;  that  they  are  endowed 
by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights  ; 
that  among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness.  That  to  secure  these  rights,  gov 
ernments  are  instituted  among  men,  deriving  their 
just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed  ; 
that  whenever  any  form  of  government  becomes 
destructive  of  these  ends,  it  is  the  right  of  the 
people  to  alter  or  abolish  it,  and  to  institute  a 
new  government,  laying  its  foundation  on  such 
principles,  and  organizing  its  powers  in  such 
form,  as  to  them  shall  seem  most  likely  to  effect 
their  safety  and  happiness.  Prudence  indeed  will 
dictate,  that  governments  long  established  should 
not  be  changed  for  light  and  transient  causes, 
and  accordingly,  ail  experience  hath  shown,  that 


4        DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

mankind  are  more  disposed  to  suffer,  while  evils 
are  sufferable,  than  to  right  themselves  by  abol 
ishing  the  forms  to  which  they  are  accustomed. 
Bat  when  a  long  train  of  abuses  and  usurpations, 
pursuing  invariably  the  same  object,  evinces  a 
design  to  reduce  them  under  absolute  despotism, 
it  is  their  right,  it  is  their  duty,  to  throw  off  such 
government,  and  to  provide  new  guards  for  their 
future  security.  Such  has  been  the  patient  suf 
ferance  of  these  colonies  ;  and  such  is  now  the 
necessity  which  constrains  them  to  alter  their  for 
mer  systems  of  government.  The  history  of  the 
resent  king  of  Great  Britain  is  a  history  of  re 
peated  injuries  and  usurpations,  all  having  in 
direct  object,  the  establishment  of  an  absolute 
tyranny  over  these  states.  To  prove  this,  let 
facts  be  submitted  to  a  candid  world. 

He  has  refused  his  assent  to  laws  the  most 
wholesome  and  necessary  for  the  public  good. 

He  has  forbidden  his  governors  to  pass  laws  of 
immediate  and  pressing  importance,  unless  sus 
pended  in  their  operation  till  his  assent  should  be 
obtained ;  and  when  so  suspended,  he  has  utterly 
neglected  to  attend  to  them. 

He  has  refused  to  pass  other  laws  for  the  ac 
commodation  of  large  districts  of  people,  unless 
those  people  would  relinquish  the  right  of  repre 
sentation  in  the  legislature  ;  a  right  inestimable 
to  them  and  formidable  to  tyrants  only. 

He  has  called  together  legislative  bodies  at 
places  unusual,  uncomfortable,  and  distant  from 
the  depository  of  their  public  records,  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  fatiguing  them  into  a  compliance  with 
his  measures. 


DECLARATION    OF    INDEPENDENCE.  5 

He  has  dissolved  representative  houses  repeat 
edly,  for  opposing  with  manly  firmness  his  invar 
sion  on  the  rights  of  the  people. 

He  has  refused  for  a  long  time,  after  such  dis 
solutions,  to  cause  others  to  be  elected  ;  whereby 
the  legislative  powers,  incapable  of  annihilation, 
have  returned  to  the  people  at  large,  for  their 
exercise  :  the  state  remaining  in  the  mean  time, 
exposed  to  all  the  dangers  of  invasion  from  with 
out,  and  convulsions  from  within. 

He  has  endeavored  to  prevent  the  population 
of  these  states  ;  for  that  purpose  obstructing  the 
laws  for  naturalization  of  foreigners  ;  refusing  to 
pass  others  to  encourage  their  migration  hither, 
and  raising  the  conditions  of  new  appropriations 
of  lands. 

He  has  obstructed  the  administration  of  justice, 
by  refusing  his  assent  to  laws  for  establishing 
judiciary  powers. 

He  has  made  judges  dependent  on  his  will 
alone,  for  the  tenure  of  their  offices,  and  the 
amount  and  payment  of  their  salaries. 

He  has  erected  a  multitude  of  new  offices,  and 
sent  hither  swarms  of  new  officers  to  harass  our 
people,  and  eat  out  their  substance. 

He  has  kept  among  us,  in  times  of  peace, 
standing  armies,  without  the  consent  of  our  legis 
latures. 

He  has  affected  to  render  the  military  indepen 
dent  of,  and  superior  to,  the  civil  power. 

He  has  combined  with  others  to  subject  us  to  a 
jurisdiction  foreign  to  our  constitution,  and  unac 
knowledged  by  our  laws,  giving  his  assent  to 
their  acts  of  pretended  legislation. 


6        DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

For  quartering  large  bodies  of  armed  troops 
among  us. 

For  protecting  them,  by  a  mock  trial,  from 
punishment  for  any  murders  which  they  should 
commit  on  the  inhabitants  of  these  states. 

For  cutting  off  our  trade  with  all  parts  of  the 
world. 

For  imposing  taxes  on  us  without  our  consent. 

For  depriving  us,  in  many  cases,  of  the  benefits 
of  trial  by  jury. 

For  transporting  us  beyond  seas  to  be  tried  for 
pretended  offences. 

For  abolishing  the  free  system  of  English  laws 
in  a  neighboring  province,  establishing  therein 
an  arbitrary  government,  and  enlarging  its  boun 
daries,  so  as  to  render  it  at  once  an  example  and 
fit  instrument  for  introducing  the  same  absolute 
rule  into  these  colonies. 

For  taking  away  our  charters,  abolishing  our 
most  valuable  laws,  and  altering  fundamentally 
the  forms  of  our  governments. 

For  suspending  our  own  legislatures,  and  de 
claring  themselves  invested  with  power  to  legis 
late  for  us  in  all  cases  whatsoever. 

He  has  abdicated  government  here,  by  declar 
ing  us  out  of  his  protection,  and  waging  war 
against  us. 

He  has  plundered  our  seas,  ravaged  our  coasts, 
burnt  our  towns,  and  destroyed  the  lives  of  our 
people. 

He  is  at  this  time  transporting  large  armies  of 
foreign  mercenaries  to  complete  the  works  of 
death,  desolation,  and  tyranny,  already  begun 
with  circumstances  of  cruelty  and  perfidy  scarce 


DECLARATION    OF    INDEPENDENCE  7 

paralleled  in  the  most  barbarous  ages,  and  totally 
unworthy  the  head  of  a  civilized  nation  ! 

He  has  constrained  our  fellow-citizens,  taken 
captive  on  the  high  seas,  to  bear  arms  against 
J.heir  country,  become  the  executioners  of  their 
\riends  and  brethren,  or  to  fall  themselves  by 
their  hands. 

He  has  excited  domestic  insurrections  among 
as,  and  has  endeavored  to  bring  on  the  inhabi 
tants  of  our  frontiers,  the  merciless  Indian  sava 
ges,    whose   known  rule  of   warfare    is   an   un 
distinguished  destruction  of  all  ages,  sexes,  and 
conditions. 

In  every  stage  of  these  oppressions  we  have 
petitioned  for  redress  in  the  most  humble  terms ; 
our  repeated  petitions  have  been  answered  only 
by  repeated  injuries.  A  prince  whose  characte. 
Is  thus  marked  by  every  act  which  may  define  a 
tyrant,  is  unfit  to  be  the  ruler  of  a  free  people. 

Nor  have  we  been  wanting  in  attention  to  our 
British  brethren.  We  have  warned  them  from 
time  to  time  of  attempts  by  their  legislature  to 
extend  an  unwarrantable  jurisdiction  over  us. 
We  have  reminded  them  of  the  circumstances  of 
our  emigration  and  settlement  here.  We  have 
appealed  to  their  native  justice  and  magnanimity, 
and  we  have  conjured  them  by  the  ties  of  our 
common  kindred  to  disavow  these  usurpations, 
which  would  inevitably  interrupt  our  connection 
and  correspondence.  They  too,  have  been  deaf 
to  the  voice  of  justice  and  consanguinity.  We 
must  therefore  acquiesce  in  the  necessity  which 
denounces  our  separation,  and  hold  them  as  we 
hold  the  rest  of  mankind,  enemies  in  war,  in 
peace,  friends. 


8        DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

We,  therefore,  the  representatives  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  in  general  congress  assembled, 
appealing  to  the  Supreme  Judge  of  the  world  for 
the  rectitude  of  our  intentions,  do,  in  the  name, 
and  by  the  authority  of  the  good  people  of  these 
colonies,  solemnly  publish  and  declare,  That  these 
united  colonies  are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be 
FREE  AND  INDEPENDENT  STATES ; 
that  they  are  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the 
British  crown,  and  that  all  political  connection 
between  them  and  the  state  of  Great  Britain,  is. 
and  ought  to  be,  totally  dissolved  ;  and  that  as 
free  and  independent  states,  they  have  full  power 
to  levy  war,  conclude  peace,  contract  alliances, 
establish  commerce,  and  to  do  all  other  acts  and 
things  which  independent  states  may  of  right  do. 
Arid  for  the  support  of  this  declaration,  with  a 
firm  reliance  on  the  protection  of  Divine  Provi 
dence,  we  mutually  pledge  to  each  other,  oui 
lives,  our  fortunes,  and  our  sacred  honor. 


CONSTITUTION  OP  THE  UNITED   STATES, 

Framed  at  Philadelphia,  in  1787,  by  a  Convention  of 
Delegates  from  the  States  of  New  Hampshire,  Massa 
chusetts,  Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Penn 
sylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Caro 
lina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia. — ratified  by  the 
Convention  of  Eleven  States,  in  1788, — and  went  into 
operation  the  4th  of  March,  1789. 

WITH    THE    AMENDMENTS. 


WE,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order 
to  form  a  more  perfect  union,  establish  justice, 
ensure  domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for  the  com 
mon  defence,  promote  the  general  welfare,  and 
secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and 
our  posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish  this  Con 
stitution  for  the  United  States  of  America. 

ARTICLE  I. 
SECTION  I.     Legislative  Powers. 

1.  All  legislative  powers  herein  granted,  shall 
be  vested  in  a  congress  of  the  United  States, 
which  shall  consist  of  a  senate  and  house  of  rep 
resentatives.  . 

SECTION  2. — Members  of  House  of  Representatives,  ho~w 
chosen.  Qualification.  Apportionment.  Vacancies, 
how  filled.  Officers.  Impeachment. 

1.    The  house  of  representatives  shall  be  com 
posed  of  members  chosen  every  second  year  b 


10  CONSTITUTION    OF    THE 

the  people  of  the  several  states,  and  the  electors 
in  each  state  shall  have  the  qualifications  requisite 
for  electors  of  the  most  numerous  branch  of  the 
state  legislature. 

2.  No   person   shall  be  a   representative  who 
shall  not  have  attained  to  the  age  of  twenty-five 
years,    and    been   seven   years   a   citizen    of  the 
United  States,  and  who  shall  not,  when  elected, 
be  an  inhabitant  of  that  state  in  which  he  shall 
be  chosen. 

3.  Representatives  and   direct   taxes   shall  be 
apportioned  among  the  several  states  which  may 
be  included  within  this  union,  according  to  their 
respective    numbers,    which   shall   be  determined 
by  adding  to  the  whole  number  of  free  persons, 
including  those  bound  to  service   for  a  term   of 
years,  and   excluding  Indians  not  taxed,   three- 
fifths  of  all  other  persons.     The  actual  enumera 
tion  shall  be  made  within  three  years   after   the 
first  meeting  of  the  congress  of  the  United  States, 
and  within  every  subsequent  term  often  years,  in 
such  manner,  as  they  shall  by  law  direct.     The 
number  of  representatives  shall  not  exceed  one 
for  every  thirty  thousand,  but  each   state  shall 
have  at  least  one  representative  ;  and  until  such 
enumeration    shall    be    made,   the    state  of  New 
Hampshire  shall  be  entitled  to  choose  three,  Mas 
sachusetts   eight,   Rhode   Island  and   Providence 
Plantations  one,  Connecticut  five,  New  York  six. 
New  Jersey  four,  Pennsylvania  eight,  Delaware 
one,  Maryland  six,  Virginia  ten,  North  Carolina 
five,  South  Carolina  five,  and  Georgia  three. 

4.  When  vacancies  happen  in  the  representa 
tion  from  any  state,  the  executive  authority  thereof 


UNITED    STATES.  11 

shall  issue   writs  of  election  to  fill  such  vacate 
cies. 

5.  The  house  of  representatives  shall  choose 
their  speaker  and  other  officers,  and  shall  have 
the  sole  power  of  impeachment. 

SECTION  III. — Senate,  how  chosen.  Classification.  Qual 
ification.  Vice-President's  vote.  Officers.  Try  Im 
peachments.  Judgment  on  Impeachment. 

1.  The  senate  of  the  United  States  shall  be 
composed  of  two  senators  from  each  state,  chosen 
by  the  legislature  thereof,  for  six  years  ;  and  each 
senator  shall  have  one  vote. 

2.  Immediately  after  they  shall  be  assembled 
in  consequence  of  the  first  election,  they  shall  be 
divided  as  equally  as  may  be  into  three  classes. 
The  seats  of  the  senators  of  the  first  class  shall 
be  vacated  at  the  expiration  of  the  second  year, 
of  the  second  class,  at  the  expiration  of  the  fourth 
year,  and  of  the  third  class,  at  the  expiration  of 
the  sixth  year,  so  that  one  third  may  be  chosen 
every  second  year ;  and  if  vacancies  happen   by 
resignation,  or  otherwise,  during  the  recess  of  the 
legislature  of  any  state,  the  executive  thereof  may 
make    temporary    appointments,    until    the    next 
meeting  of  the  legislature,  which  shall  then  fill 
such  vacancies. 

3.  No  person  shall  be  a  senator,  who  shall  not 
have  attained  to  the  age  of  thirty  years,  and  been 
nine  years  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  who 
shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  inhabitant  of  the 
state  for  which  he  shall  be  chosen. 

4.  The   vice-president   of   the    United    States 
shall  be  president  of  the  senate,  but  shall  have 
no  vote,  unless  they  be  equally  divided. 


12  CONSTITUTION    OF    THE 

5.  The  senate  shaJl  choose  their  other  officers 
and  also  a  president  pro  tempore,  in  the  absence 
of  the  vice-president,  or  when  he  shall  exercise 
the  office  of  president  of  the  United  States. 

6.  The  senate  shall  have  the  sole  power  to  try 
all  impeachments.     When   sitting  for  that   pur 
pose,  they  shall  be  on  oath  or  affirmation.     When 
the  president  of  the  United  States  is  tried,  the 
chief  justice  shall  preside  ;  and  no  person  shall 
be    convicted    without   the   concurrence    of  two- 
thirds  of  the  members  present. 

7.  Judgment  in  cases  of  impeachment  shall  not 
extend  farther  than  to  removal  from  office,  and 
disqualification  to  hold  and  enjoy   any  office  of 
honor,  trust,  or  profit,  under  the  United  States ; 
but  the  party  convicted  shall  nevertheless  be  lia 
ble,  and   subject  to,   indictment,  trial,  judgment, 
and  punishment  according  to  law. 

SECTION   IV.— Elections  for  Senators  and  Representa 
tives,  how  held.     Congress  assemble  annually. 

1.  The  times,  places,  and  manner  of  holding 
elections  for  senators  and  representatives,  shall  be 
prescribed  in  each  state  by  the  legislature  there 
of;  but  the  congress  may,  at  any  time,  by  law, 
make  or  alter  such  regulations,  except  as  to  the 
places  of  choosing  senators. 

2.  The  congress  shall  assemble  at  least  once 
in  every  year,  and  such  meeting  shall  be  on  the 
first  Monday  in  December,  unless  they  shall  by 
law  appoint  a  different  day. 

SECTION   V. — Elections,  by  whom  judged.     Quorum. 
Rules.     Journal.     Adjournment. 

1.   Each  house  shall  be  the  judge  of  the  eleo- 


UNITED    STATES.  13 

tions,  returns,  and  qualifications  of  its  own  mem 
bers,  and  a  majority  of  each  shall  constitute  a 
quorum  to  do  business ;  but  a  smaller  number 
may  adjourn  from  day  to  day,  and  may  be  author 
ized  to  compel  the  attendance  of  absent  members, 
in  such  manner,  and  under  such  penalties  as  each 
house  may  provide. 

2.  Each  house  may  determine  the  rules  of  its 
proceedings,   punish  its   members  for  disorderly 
behavior,  and  with  the  concurrence  of  two  thirds, 
expel  a  member. 

3.  Each  house  shall  keep  a  journal  of  its  pro 
ceedings,  and  from  time  to  time  publish  the  same, 
excepting  such  parts  as  may,  in  their  judgment, 
require  secrecy ;  and  the  yeas  and   nays  of  the 
members  of  either  house  on  any  question,  shall, 
at  the  desire  of  one  fifth  of  those  present,  be  en 
tered  on  the  journal. 

4.  Neither  house,  during  the  session  of  con 
gress,   shall,  without  the  consent  of  the  other, 
adjourn   for  more   than    three  days,  nor  to  any 
other  place  than  that  in  which  the  two  houses 
shall  be  sitting. 

SECTION   VI. — Compensation.      Privileges.      Members 
not  appointed  to  office. 

1.  The  senators  and  representatives  shall  re 
ceive  a  compensation  for  their  services,  to  be 
ascertained  by  law,  and  paid  out  of  the  treasury 
of  the  United  States.  They  shall,  in  all  cases, 
except  treason,  felony,  and  breach  of  the  peace, 
be  privileged  from  arrest  during  their  attendance 
at  the  session  of  their  respective  houses,  and  in 
going  to,  and  returning  from,  the  same  ;  and  for 


14  CONSTITUTION    OF    THE 

any  speech  or  debate  in  either  house,  they  shall 
not  bo  questioned  in  any  other  place. 

2.  No  senator  or  representative  shall,  during 
the  time  for  which  he  was  elected,  be  appointed 
to  any  civil  office  under  the  authority  of  the 
United  States,  which  shall  have  been'  created, 
or  the  emoluments  whereof  shall  have  been  in 
creased  during  such  time  :  and  no  person  holding 
any  office  under  the  United  States,  shall  be  a 
member  of  either  house  during  his  continuance  in 
office. 

SECTION  VII. — Revenue.  Bills.  Orders,  resolutions. 
&c.,  to  be  presented  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States  for  approval. 

1.  All  bills  for  raising  revenue,  shall  originate 
in  the  house  of  representatives ;   but  the  senate 
may  propose,  or  concur  with  amendments,  as  on 
other  bills. 

2.  Every   bill   which    shall    have   passed   the 
house  of  representatives  and  the  senate,  shall,  be 
fore  it  become  a  law,  be  presented  to  the  presi 
dent   of  the   United    States  ;    if  he  approve,  he 
shall  sign  it,  but  if  not,  he  shall  return  it,  with 
his    objections,  to   that   house  in  which  it  shall 
have  originated,  who  shall  enter  the  objections  at 
large  on  their  journal,  and  proceed  to  reconsider 
it.     If  after  such  reconsideration,  two  thirds  of 
that  house  shall  agree  to  pass  the  bill,  it  shall  be 
sent,  together  with  the   objections,  to  the  other 
house,  by  which  it  shall  likewise  be  reconsidered, 
and  if  approved  by  two  thirds  of  that  house,  it 
shall  become  a  law.     But  in  all  such  cases  the 
votes  of  both  houses  shall  be  determined  by  yeas 


UNITED    STATES.  15 

and  nays,  and  the  names  of  the  persons  voting-  for 
and  against  the  bill,  shall  be  entered  on  the  jour- 
nal  of  each  house  respectively.  If  any  bill  shall 
not  be  returned  by  the  president  within  ten  days, 
(Sundays  excepted,)  after  it  shall  have  been  pre 
sented  to  him,  the  same  shall  be  a  law,  in  like 
manner  as  if  he  had  signed  it,  unless  the  congress 
by  their  adjournment,  prevent  its  return,  in  which 
case  it  shall  not  be  a  law. 

3.  Every  order,  resolution,  or  vote,  to  which 
the  concurrence  of  the  senate  and  house  of  repre 
sentatives  may  be  necessary,  (except  on  a  ques 
tion  of  adjournment,)  shall  be  presented  to  the 
president  of  the  United  States ;  and  before  the 
same  shall  take  effect,  shall  be  approved  by  him, 
or  being  disapproved  by  him,  shall  be  repassed 
by  two  thirds  of  the  senate  and  house  of  repre 
sentatives,  according  to  the  rules  and  limitations 
prescribed  in  the  case  of  a  bill. 

SECTION  VIII. — Congress  to  lay  Taxes  ;  Borrow  Mon 
ey  ;  Regulate  Commerce,  Naturalization,  Bankrupt 
cies,  Coin,  Weights,  and  Measures  ;  Punish  Counter 
feiting  ;  Create  Post-Offices  ;  Promote  Science  ;  Con 
stitute  Courts  ;  Punish  Piraces  ;  Declare  War  ;  Raise 
Armies  ;  Maintain  a  Navy  ;  Organize  the  Militia ; 
have  Legislation  over  certain  Places. 

1.  The  congress  shall  have  power  to  lay  and 
collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and  excises,  to  pay 
the  debts   and   provide   for  the  common  defence 
and  general  welfare  of  the  United  States  ;  but  all 
duties,    imposts,   and    excises,    shall   be   uniform 
throughout  the  United  States  ; 

2.  To    borrow    money    on    the    credit   of   the 
United  States ; 


16  CONSTITUTION    OF    THE 

3.  To  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations, 
and  among  the  several  states,  and  with  the  In 
dian  tribes ; 

4.  To  establish  a  uniform  rule  of  naturaliza 
tion,  and  uniform  laws  on  the  subject  of  bank 
ruptcies  throughout  the  United  States  ; 

5.  To  coin  money,  regulate  the  value  thereof, 
and   of   foreign   coin,    and    fix   the    standard    of 
weights  and  measures  ; 

6.  To  provide  for  the  punishment  of  counter 
feiting   the   securities   and    current   coin   of   the 
United  States ; 

7.  To  establish  post-offices,  and  post-roads  ; 

8.  To   promote   the   progress  of  science   and 
useful  arts,  by  securing  for  limited  times  to  au 
thors  and  inventors,  the  exclusive  right  to  their 
respective  writings  and  discoveries  ; 

9.  To  constitute  tribunals  inferior  to  the  su 
preme  court ; 

10.  To  define  and  punish  piracies  and  felonies 
committed  on  the  high  seas,  and  offences  against 
the  law  of  nations  ; 

11.  To  declare   war,  grant  letters  of  marque 
and  reprisal,  and  make  rules  concerning  captures 
on  land  and  water ; 

12.  To  raise  and  support  armies,  but  no  appro 
priation  of  money  to  that  use  shall  be  for  a  longer 
term  than  two  years  ; 

13.  To  provide  and  maintain  a  navy  ; 

14.  To   make   rules  for  the  government  and 
regulation  of  the  land  and  naval  forces  ; 

15.  To  provide  for  calling  forth  the  militia  to 
execute  the  laws  of  the  union,  suppress  insurrec 
tions,  and  reuel  invasions  ; 


UNITED    STATES.  17 

16.  To   provide    for   organizing,    Arming,   and 
disciplining  the  militia,   and  for  governing  such 
part  of  them  as  may  be  employed  in  the  service 
of  the  United  States,  reserving  to  the  states  re 
spectively,  the  appointment  of  the    officers,  and 
the  authority  of  training  the  militia  according  to 
the  discipline  prescribed  by  congress. 

17.  To    exercise    exclusive    legislation    in   all 
cases  whatsoever,  over  such  district  (not  exceed 
ing  ten  miles  square)  as  may,  by  cession  of  par 
ticular   states,   and    the    acceptance  of  congress, 
become  the  seat  of  the  government  of  the  United 
States,   and  to  exercise   like   authority  over  all 
places  purchased  by  the  consent  of  the  legislature 
of  the  state  in  which  the  same  shall  be,  for  the 
erection  of  forts,  magazines,  arsenals,  dock-yards, 
and  other  needful  buildings  : — And 

18.  To  make  all  laws  which  shall  be   neces 
sary  and  proper  for  carrying  into  execution  the 
foregoing  powers,  and  all  other  powers  vested  by 
this  constitution  in  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  or  in  any  department  or  officer  thereof. 

SECTION  IX. — Importation  of  persons  after  1808.  Ha 
beas  Corpus.  Attainder.  Tax.  No  exportation  duty. 
No  preference  in  Commerce  or  Tonnage.  Money. 
how  drawn.  No  Titles  to  be  granted. 

1.  The  migration  or  importation  of  such  per 
sons  as  any  of  the  states  now  existing  shall  think 
proper  to  admit,  shall  not  be  prohibited  by  the 
congress   prior  to    the  year   one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  eight,  but  a  tax  or  duty  may  be  im 
posed  on  such  importation,  not  excee<iing  ten  dol 
lars  for  each  person. 

2.  The  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus 


18  CONSTITUTION    OF    THE 

shall  not  be  suspended,  unless  when  in  cases  of 
rebellion  or  invasion,  the  public  safety  may  re 
quire  it. 

3.  No  bill  of  attainder  or  ex  post  facto  law 
shall  be  passed. 

4.  No  capitation,  or  other  direct  tax.  shall  be 
laid,  unless  in  proportion  to  the  census  or  enume 
ration  herein  before  directed  to  be  taken. 

5.  No  tax  or  duty  shall  be  laid  on  articles  ex 
ported  from  any  state. 

6.  No  preference  shall  be  given  by  any  regu 
lation  of  commerce  or  revenue  to  the  ports  of  one 
state  over   those   of  another ;    nor   shall   vessels 
bound  to,  or  from,  one  state,  be  obliged  to  enter, 
clear,  or  pay  duties  in  another. 

7.  No  money  shall  be  drawn   from  the   trea 
sury,  but  in  consequence  of  appropriations  made 
by  law  ;  and  a  regular  statement  and  account  of 
the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  all  public  money 
shall  be  published  from  time  to  time. 

8.  No  title  of  nobility  shall  be  granted  by  the 
United  States  :  and  no  person  holding  any  office 
of  profit  or  trust  under  them,  shall,  without  the 
consent  of  the  congress,  accept  of  any  present, 
emolument,  office,  or  title,  of  any  kind  whatever, 
from  any  king,  prince,  or  foreign  state. 

SECTION  X.— States  not  to  make  Treaties,  lay  Impost*; 
or  Duty  on  Tonnage,  &c. 

1.  No  state  shall  enter  into  any  treaty,  alli 
ance,  or  confederation  ;  grant  letters  of  marq  le 
and  reprisal ^  coin  money;  emit  bills  of  credit, 
make  anything-  but  gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender 
in  payment  of  debts  ;  pass  any  bill  of  attaindei 


UNITED    STATES.  19 

ex  post  facto  law,  or  law  impairing  the  obligation 
of  contracts,  or  grant  any  title  of  nobility. 

2.  IvJo  state  shall,  without  the  consent  of  the 
congress,  lay  any  imposts  or  duties  on  imports  or 
exports,  except  what  may  be  absolutely  necessary 
for  executing   its   inspection  !aws ;   and  the   net 
produce  of  all  duties  and  imposts,  laid  by  any 
state  on  imports  or  exports,  shall  be  for  the  use 
of  the  treasury  of  the  United  States  ;  and  all  such 
laws  shall  be  subject  to  the  revision  and  control 
of  the  congress. 

3.  No  state  shall,  without  the  consent  of  con 
gress,  lay  any  duty  of  tonnage,  keep  troops  or 
ships   of  war  in  time  of  peace,  enter  into  any 
agreement  or  compact  with  another  state,  or  with 
a  foreign  power,  or  engage  in  war,  unless  actu 
ally  invaded,  or  in  such  imminent  danger  as  will 
not  admit  of  delay. 

ARTICLE   II. 

SECTION  I. — Executive  Power.  Electors,  how  appointed. 
Process  of  Election.  Qualifications  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States.  Vice  President  may  officiate. 
Compensation.  Oath. 

1.  The  executive  power  shall  be  vested  in  a 
president  of  the  United  States  of  America.  He 
shall  hold  his  office  during  the  term  of  four  years, 
and,  together  with  the  vice-president,  chosen  for 
the  same  term,  be  elected  as  follows  : — 

&.  Each  state  shall  appoint,  in  such  manner  as 
the  legislature  thereof  may  direct,  a  number  of 
electors,  equal  to  the  whole  number  of  senators 
and  representatives  to  which  the  state  may  be  en 
titled  in  the  congress  ;  but  no  senator  or  represen- 


20  CONSTITUTION    OF    THE 

tative,  or  person  holding  an  office  of  trust  or  profit 
under  the  United  States,  shall  be  appointed  an 
elector. 

3.  *  [The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respec 
tive  states,  and  vote  by  ballot  for  two  persons,  of 
whom  one  at  least  shall  not  be  an  inhabitant  of 
the  same  state  with  themselves.  And  they  shall 
make  a  list  of  all  the  persons  voted  for,  and  of  the 
number  of  votes  for  each  ;  which  list  they  shall 
sign  and  certify,  and  transmit  sealed  to  the  seat  of 
the  government  of  the  United  States,  directed  to 
the  president  of  the  senate.  The  president  of  the 
senate  shall,  in  the  presence  of  the  senate  and 
house  of  representatives,  open  all  the  certificates, 
and  the  votes  shall  then  be  counted.  The  person 
having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  shall  be  the 
president,  if  such  number  be  a  majority  of  the 
whole  number  of  electors  appointed  ;  and  if  there 
be  more  than  one  who  have  such  majority,  and 
have  an  equal  number  of  votes,  then  the  house  of 
representatives  shall  immediately  choose,  by  bal 
lot,  one  of  them  for  president ;  and  if  no  person 
have  a  majority,  then  from  the  rive  highest  on  the 
list,  the  said  house  shall,  in  like  manner,  choose 
the  president.  But  in  choosing  the  president,  the 
votes  shall  be  taken  by  states,  the  representation 
from  each  state  having  one  vote  ;  a  quorum  for 
this  purpose  shall  consist  of  a  member  or  mem 
bers  from  two  thirds  of  the  states,  and  a  majority 
of  all  the  states  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice. 

In  every  case,  after  the  choice  of  the  president, 

*  This  Section  was  amended  in  1803.  See  14th  Arti 
cle  of  Amendments,  p.  31. 


UNITED    STATES.  21 

the  person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes 
of  the  electors,  shall  be  the  vice-president.  But 
if  there  should  remain  two  or  more  who  have 
equal  votes,  the  senate  shall  choose  from  them  by 
ballot  the  vice-president.] 

4.  The  congress  may  determine  the  time  of 
choosing  the  electors,  and  the  day  on  which  they 
shall  give  their  votes ;  which  day  shall  be  the 
same  throughout  the  United  States. 

5.  No  person,  except  a  natural  born  citizen,  or 
a  citizen  of  the  United  States  at  the  time  of  the 
adoption  of  this  constitution,  shall  be  eligible  to 
the  office  of  president ;  neither  shall  any  person 
be  eligible  to  that  office  who  shall  not  have  at 
tained  to  the  age  of  thirty-five  years,  and  been 
fourteen  years  a  resident  within  the  United  States. 

6.  In  case  of  removal  of  the   president   from 
office,  or  of  his  death,  resignation,  or  inability  to 
discharge  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  said  office, 
the  same  shall  devolve  on  the  vice-president,  and 
the  congress  may,  by  law,  provide  for  the  case 
of  removal,  death,  resignation,  or  inability  both 
of  the   president    and    vice-president,   declaring 
what  officer  shall  then  act  as  president,  and  such 
officer  shall  act  accordingly,  until  the  disability 
be  removed,  or  a  president  shall  be  elected. 

7.  The  president  shall,  at  stated  times,  receive 
for  his  services  a  compensation,  which  shall  be 
neither  increased  nor  diminished  during  the  pe 
riod  for  which  he  shall  have  been  elected,  and  he 
shall   not   receive  within   that  period  any  other 
emolument  from  the  United    States,  or  any  of 
them. 

8.  Before   he   enter  on  the  execution  of  hie 


2  CONSTITUTION    OF    THE 

office,  he  shall  take  the  following  oath  or  affir 
mation  : — 

0.  "  I  do  solemnly  swear,  or  affirm,  that  I  will 
faithfully  execute  the  office  of  president  of  the 
United  States,  and  will  to  the  best  of  my  ability 
preserve,  protect,  and  defend  the  constitution  of 
the  United  States." 

SECTION  II. — Powers  of  the  President.     Make  Treaties. 
Appoint  Officers.     Vacancies  in  office. 

1.  The  president  shall  be  commander-in-chief 
of  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States,  and 
of  the  militia  of  the  several  states,  when  called 
into  the  actual  service  of  the  United  States ;  he 
may  require  the  opinion,  in  writing,  of  the  prin 
cipal  officer  in  each  of  the  executive  departments, 
upon  any  subject  relating  to  the  duties  of  their  re 
spective  offices,  and  he  shall  have  power  to  grant 
reprieves   and   pardons   for  offences  against   the 
United  States,  except  in  cases  of  impeachment. 

2.  He  shall  have  power,  by,  and  with,  the  ad 
vice  and  consent  of  the  senate,  to  make  treaties, 
provided  two  thirds  of  the  senators  present  con 
cur  ;  and  he  shall  nominate,  and  by,   and  with, 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  senate,   shall  ap 
point  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers  and  con 
suls,  judges  of  the  supreme  court,  and  all  other 
offices  of  the  United  States,  whose  appointments 
are  not  herein  otherwise  provided  for,  and  which 
shall    be   established   by  law :    but  the  congress 
may  by  law  vest  the  appointment  of  such  inferior 
officers,  as  they  think   proper,  in    the    president 
alone,  in  the  courts  of  law,  or  in  the  heads  of  de 
partments. 


UNITED    STATES.  23 

3.  The  president  shall  have  power  to  fill  up 
all  vacancies  that  may  happen  during  the  recess 
of  the  senate,  hy  granting  commissions  which 
shall  expire  at  the  end  of  their  next  session. 

SECTION   III.— Duties  of  the  President  of  the  United 

States. 

1.  He  shall  from  time  to  time  give  to  the  con 
gress  information  of  the  state  of  the  Union,  and 
recommend  to  their  consideration  such  measures 
as  he  shall  judge  necessary  and  expedient ;  he  may 
on  extraordinary  occasions,  convene  both  houses, 
or  either  of  them,  and,  in  case  of  disagreement  be 
tween  them,  with  respect  to  the  time  of  adjourn 
ment,  he  may  adjourn  them  to  such  time  as  he 
shall  think  proper  ;  he  shall  receive  ambassadors 
and  other  public  ministers ;  he  shall  take  care 
that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed,  arid  shall 
commission  all  the  officers  of  the  United  States. 

SECTION  IV. — Officers  removable  by  Impeachment. 

1.  The  president,  vice-president,  and  all  civil 
officers  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  removed 
from  office  on  impeachment  for,  and  conviction 
of,  treason,  bribery,  or  other  high  crimes  and  mis 
demeanors. 

ARTICLE  III. 

SECTION  I. — Judicial  Powers  and  Tenure  of  Judges. 

1.  The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States,  shall 
be  vested  in  one  supreme  court,  and  in  such  infe 
rior  courts  as  the  congress  may  from  time  to  time 
ordain  and  establish.  The  judges,  both  of  the 
supreme  and  inferior  courts,  shall  hold  their  of- 


24  CONSTITUTION    OF    THE 

fices  during  good  behavior,  and  shall,  at  stated 
times,  receive  for  their  services,  a  compensation, 
which  shall  not  be  diminished  during  their  con 
tinuance  in  office. 

SECTION   II. — Extension  of  Judicial  Power.     Supreme 
Court  Jurisdiction.     Trials  by  Jury. 

1.  The  judicial  power  shall  extend  to  all  cases 
in  law  and  equity,  arising  under  this  constitution, 
the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  the  treaties 
made,  or  which  shall  be  made,  under  their  au 
thority  ;  to  all  cases  affecting  ambassadors,  other 
public   ministers,   and   consuls ;    to  all   cases  of 
admiralty  and  maritime  jurisdiction  ;    to  contro 
versies  to  which   the  United    States   shall  be  a 
party ;    to   controversies    between   two   or   more 
states — between  a  state  and  citizens  of  another 
state — between   citizens   of  different   states — be 
tween  citizens  of  the  same  state  claiming  lande 
under  grants  of  different  states — and  between  & 
state,  or  the  citizens  thereof,  and  foreign  states, 
citizens,  or  subjects. 

2.  In    all    cases   affecting    ambassadors,   other 
public  ministers,  and  consuls,  and  those  in  which 
a  state  shall  be  a  party,  the  supreme  court  shall 
have  original  jurisdiction.     In  all  the  other  cases 
before  mentioned,  the  supreme  court  shall  have 
appellate  jurisdiction,   both  as  to  law  and   fact, 
with  such  exceptions,  and  under  such  regulations, 
as  the  congress  shall  make. 

3.  The  trial  of  all  crimes,  except  in  cases  of 
impeachment,  shall  be  by  jury  ;    and  such  tria. 
shall  be  held  in  the  state  where  the  said  crimes 
shall  have  been  committed ;  but  when  not  com- 


UNITED    STATES.  25 

mitted  within  any  state,  the  trial  shall  be  at  such 
place  or  places  as  the  congress  may  by  law  have 
directed. 

SECTION  III. — Treason. 

1.  Treason  against   the   United    States,  shall 
consist  only  in  levying  war  against  them,  or  in 
adhering  to  their  enemies,  giving  them  aid  and 
comfort.     No  person  shall  be  convicted  of  treason 
unless  on  the  testimony  of  two  witnesses  to  the 
same  overt  act,  or  on  confession  in  open  court. 

2.  The  congress  shall  have  power  to  declare 
the  punishment  of  treason,   but  no   attainder  of 
treason  shall  work  corruption  of  blood,  or  forfeit 
ures,  except  during  the  life  of  the  person  attainted. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

SECTION  I. — Acts  of  States  Accredited. 

1.  Full  faith  and  credit  shall  be  given  in  each 
state  to  the  public  acts,  records,  and  judicial  pro 
ceedings  of  every  other  state.  And  the  congress 
may  by  general  laws  prescribe  the  manner  in 
which  such  acts,  records,  and  proceedings  shall 
be  proved,  and  the  effect  thereof. 

SECTION    II. — Citizens'   Privileges.      Persons  charged 
with  Crimes  fleeing. 

1.  The  citizens  of  each  state  shall  be  entitled 
to  all  privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the 
several  states. 

2.  A  person  charged  in  any  state  with  treason, 
felony,  or  other  crime,  who  shall  flee  from  justice, 
and  be  found  in  another  state,  shall,  on  demand 
of  the  executive  authority  of  the  state  from  which 
he  fled,  be  delivered  up,  to  be  removed  to  the 
state  having  jurisdiction  of  the  crime. 


26  CONSTITUTION    OF    THE 

3.  No  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one 
state,  under  the  laws  thereof,  escaping  into  an 
other,  shall,  in  consequence  of  any  law  or  regula 
tion  therein,  be  discharged  from  such  service  or 
labor,  but  shall  be  delivered  up,  on  claim  of  the 
party  to  whom  such  service  or  labor  may  be  due. 

SECTION  III. — New  States.     Territories. 

1.  New  states  may  be  admitted  by  the  congress 
into  this  Union  ;  but  no  new  state  shall  be  formed 
or  erected  within   the  jurisdiction  of  any  other 
state,  nor  any  state  be  formed  by  the  junction  of 
two  or  more  states,  or  parts  of  the  states,  without 
the    consent   of   the    legislatures    of  states    con 
cerned,  as  well  as  of  the  congress. 

2.  The  congress  shall  have  power  to  dispose 
of,  and  make  all  needful  rules  and  regulations  re 
specting  the  territory  or  other  property  belonging 
to  the  United  States;  and  nothing  in  this  consti 
tution  shall  be  so  construed  as  to  prejudice  any 
claims  of  the  United  States,  or  of  any  particular 
state. 

SECTION  IV. — States  protected. 

1.  The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every 
state  in  this  union  a  republican  form  of  govern 
ment,  and  shall  protect  each  of  them  against  in 
vasion  ;  and  on  application  of  the  legislature,  (or 
of  the  executive,  when  the  legislature  cannot  be 
convened,)  against  domestic  violence. 

ARTICLE  V. 

Amendments,  how  attained. 

1.  The  congress,  whenever  two  thirds  of  both 
houses  siall  deem  it  necessary,  shall  propose 


UNITED    STATES.  2" 

amendments  to  this  constitution,  or  on  the  appli 
cation  of  the  legislatures  of  two  thirds  of  the 
several  states,  shall  call  a  convention  for  propos 
ing  amendments,  which  in  either  case  shall  be 
valid  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  as  part  of  this 
constitution,  when  ratified  by  the  legislatures  of 
three  fourths  of  the  several  states,  or  by  conven 
tions  in  three  fourths  thereof,  as  the  one  or  the 
other  mode  of  ratification  may  be  proposed  by  the 
congress ;  provided  that  no  amendment  which 
may  be  made  prior  to  the  year  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  eight,  shall  in  any  manner  affect  the 
first  and  fourth  clauses  in  the  ninth  section  of  the 
first  article  ;  and  that  no  state,  without  its  con 
sent,  shall  be  deprived  of  its  equal  suffrage  in  the 
senate. 

ARTICLE   VI. 

Debts  prior  to  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution.  Trea 
ties,  law  of  the  land.  Oath  or  affirmation  to  mem 
bers. 

1.  All  debts  contracted  and  engagements  en 
tered  into,  before  the  adoption  of  this  constitution, 
shall  be  as  valid  against  the  United  States  under 
this  constitution,  as  under  the  confederation. 

2.  This  constitution,  and  the  laws  of  the  United 
States,  which  shall  be  made  in  pursuance  there 
of;  and  all  treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be  made, 
under  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  shall  be 
the  supreme  law  of  the  land  ;  and  the  judges  in 
every  state  shall  be  bound  thereby,  anything  in 
the  constitution  or  laws  of  any  state  to  the  con 
trary  notwithstanding. 

3.  The    senators    and    representatives    before 
mentioned,  and  the  members  of  the  several  state 
legislatures,  and  all   executive  and  judicial  offi- 


CONSTITUTION    OF    THE 


cers,  both  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  several 
states,  shall  be  bound  by  oath  or  affirmation,  to 
support  this  constitution :  but  no  religious  test 
shall  ever  be  required  as  a  qualification  to  any 
office  or  public  trust  under  the  United  States. 

ARTICLE   VII. 

Ratification. 

1.  The  ratification  of  the  conventions  of  nine 
states,  shall  be  sufficient  for  the  establishment  of 
this  constitution  between  the  states  so  ratifying 
the  same. 

Done  in  convention,  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the 
states  present,  the  seventeenth  day  of  September,  in  the 
year  of  oitr  Lord  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
eighty  seven,  and  of  the  independence  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  the  tied  fill.  In  witness  whereof, 
ice  have  hereunto  subscribed  our  names. 

GEO.  WASHINGTON, 

President  and  Deputy  from  Virginia. 


New  Hampshire. 
John  Langdon, 
Nicholas  Gilman. 

Massachusetts. 
Nathaniel  Gorham, 
Rufus  King. 

Connecticut. 

William  Samuel  Johnson, 
Roger  Sherman. 

New  York. 
Alexander  Hamilton. 

New  Jersey. 
William  Livingston. 
David  Brearly, 
William  Patterson, 
ronathan  Da v ton. 


Pennsylvania. 
Benjamin  Franklin, 
Thomas  Mifflin, 
Robert  Morris, 
George  Clymer, 
Thomas  Fitzsimons, 
Jared  Ingersoll, 
James  Wilson, 
Gouverneur  Morris. 

Delaware. 
George  Reed, 
Gunning  Bedford,  jun 
John  Dickinson, 
Richard  Bassett, 
Jacob  Broom. 


UNITED    STATES.  29 

Maryland.  Hugh  Williamson. 
James  M' Henry,  South  Carolina. 

Daniel  of  St.  Tho.  Jenifer,  John  Rutledge, 

Daniel  Carroll.  Charles  C.  Pinckney, 

Virginia.  Charles  Pinckney, 

John  Blair,  "  Pierce  Butler. 
James  Madison,  jun.  Georgia. 

North  Carolina.  "William  Few, 

William  Blount,  Abraham  Baldwin. 
Richard  Dobbs  Spaight, 

Attest :  WILLIAM   JACKSON,  Sec. 


AMENDMENTS. 

Articles  in  addition  to,  and  amendment  of,  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States  of  America,  proposed  by 
Congress,  and  ratified  by  the  Legislatures  of  the  seve 
ral  States,  pursuant  to  the  fifth  article  of  the  original 
Constitution. 

ARTICLE    I. 

Religion.  Press.  Speech.  Right  of  Petition. 
Congress  shall  make  no  new  law  respecting  an 
establishment  of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  ex 
ercise  thereof;  or  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech, 
or  of  the  press  ;  or  the  right  of  the  people  peaceably 
to  assemble,  and  to  petition  the  government  for  a  re 
dress  of  grievances. 

ARTICLE    II. 
Right  to  bear  Arms. 

A  well-regulated  militia  being  necessary  to  the  se 
curity  of  a  free  state,  the  right  of  the  people  to  keep 
and  bear  arms,  shall  not  be  infringed. 

ARTICLE    III. 
No  Soldier  to  be  billeted. 

No  soldier  shall,  in  time  of  peace,  be  quartered  in 
any  house  without  the  consent  of  the  owner,  nor  in 
time  of  war,  but  in  a  manner  to  be  prescribed  by  law. 


80  CONSTITUTION    OF    THE 

ARTICLE    IV. 

Unreasonable  Searches  prohibited. 
The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  per 
sons,  houses,  papers,  and  effects,  against  unreasona 
ble  searches  and  seizures,  shall  not  be  violated  ;  and 
no  warrants  shall  issue,  but  upon  probable  cause, 
supported  by  oath  or  affirmation,  and  particularly 
describing  the  place  to  be  searched,  and  the  persons 
or  things  to  be  seized. 

ARTICLE    V. 

Proceeding  in  Criminal  Cases.      Person  and  Properly 
sacred. 

No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a  capital  or 
otherwise  infamous  crime,  unless  on  a  presentment 
or  indictment  of  a  grand  jury,  except  in  cases  arising 
in  the  land  or  naval  forces,  or  in  the  militia  when  in 
actual  service,  in  time  of  war  or  public  danger  ;  nor 
shall  any  person  be  subject,  for  the  same  offence,  to 
be  twice  put  in  jeopardy  of  life  or  limb  ;  nor  shall  be 
compelled  in  any  criminal  case  to  be  a  witness  against 
himself;  nor  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property. 
without  due  process  of  law  ;  nor  shall  private  property 
be  taken  for  public  use  without  just  compensation. 

ARTICLE   VI. 
Mode  of  Trial  in  Criminal  Cases. 

In  all  criminal  prosecutions,  the  accused  shall  en 
joy  the  right  to  a  speedy  and  pubhc  trial,  by  an  im 
partial  jury  of  the  state  and  district  wherein  the  crime 
shall  have  been  committed,  which  district  shall  have 
been  previously  ascertained  by  law  ;  and  to  be  in 
formed  of  the  nature  and  cause  of  the  accusation  ;  to 
oe  confronted  with  the  witnesses  against  him  j  to  have 
compulsory  process  for  obtaining  witnesses  in  his  fa 
vor  ;  and  to  have  the  assistance  of  counsel  for  his 


ARTICLE    VII. 

Mode  of  Trial  in  Civil  Cases. 

In  sriits  at  common  law.  where  the  value  in  con 


UNITED    STATES.  31 

troversy  shall  exceed  twenty  dollars,  the  right  of 
trial  by  jury  shall  be  preserved  •  and  no  fact  tried  by 
a  jury  shall  be  otherwise  re-examined  in  any  court 
of  the  United  States,  than  according  to  the  rules  of 
the  common  law. 

ARTICLE    VIII. 
Bail.     Fine.     Punishments. 

Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  excessive 
fines  imposed,  nor  cruel  and  unusual  punishments 
inflicted. 

ARTICLE    IX. 

Rights. 

The  enumeration  in  the  constitution  of  certain 
rights  shall  not  be  construed  to  deny  or  disparage 
others  retained  by  the  people. 

ARTICLE    X. 
Powers  reserved  to  the  People. 
The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by 
the  constitution,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  states,  are 
reserved  to  the  states  respectively  or  to  the  people. 

ARTICLE    XI. 
Limitation  of  Judicial  Power. 

The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  not 
be  construed  to  extend  to  any  suit  in  law  or  equity 
commenced  or  prosecuted  against  one  of  the  United 
States,  by  citizens  of  another  state,  or  by  citizens  or 
subjects  of  any  foreign  state. 

ARTICLE    XII. 

Manner  of  electing  President  and  Vice-President. 
1.  The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  States, 
and  vote  by  ballot  for  president  and  vice-president, 
one  of  whom  at  least,  shall  not  be  an  inhabitant  of 
the  same  state  with  themselves  ;  they  shall  name  in 
their  ballots  the  person  voted  for  as  president,  and  in 
distinct  ballots  the  person  voted  for  as  vice-president, 
and  they  shall  make  distinct  lists  of  all  persons  voted 
for  as  president,  and  of  all  persons  voted  for  as  vice- 


32  CONSTITUTION    OF   THE 

president,  and  of  the  number  of  votes  for  each ;  which 
lists  ihe-j  shall  sign  and  certify,  and  transmit,  sealed, 
to  the  seat  of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  di 
rected  to  the  president  of  the  senate  ;  the  president  of 
the  senate  shall,  in  presence  of  the  senate  and  house 
of  representatives,  open  all  the  certificates,  and  the 
votes  shall  then  be  counted  ;  the  person  having  the 
greatest  number  of  votes  for  president  shall  be  the 
president,  if  such  number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole 
number  of  electors  appointed  ;  and  if  no  person  have 
such  majority,  then,  from  the  persons  having  the 
highest  numbers,  not  exceeding  three,  on  the  list  of 
those  voted  for  as  president,  the  house  of  representa 
tives  shall  choose  immediately,  by  ballot,  the  presi 
dent.  But,  in  choosing  the  president,  the  votes  shall 
be  taken  by  states,  the  representation  from  each  state 
having  one  vote  ;  a  quorum  for  this  purpose  shall 
consist  of  a  member  or  members  of  two  thirds  of  the 
states,  and  a  majority  of  all  the  states  shall  be  neces 
sary  to  a  choice.  And  if  the  house  of  representatives 
shall  not  choose  a  president  whenever  the  right  of 
choice  shall  devolve  upon  them,  before  the  fourth  day 
of  March  next  following,  then  the  vice-president  shall 
act  as  president,  as  in  the  case  of  the  death  or  other 
constitutional  disability  of  the  president. 

2  The  person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes 
as  vice-presi(  ent  shall  be  the  vice-president,  if  such 
number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  elec 
tors  appointed  j  and  if  no  person  have  a  majority, 
then,  from  the  two  highest  numbers  on  the  list,  the 
senate  shall  choose  the  vice-president ;  a  quorum  for 
the  purpose  shall  consist  of  two  thirds  of  the  whole 
number  of  senators,  and  a  majority  of  the  whole 
number  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice. 

3.  But  no  person  constitutionally  inelegible  to  the 
office  of  president,  shall  be  eligible  to  that  of  vice- 
president  of  the  United  States. 


PRESIDENTS    OF  THE   UNITED   STATES 

Years 
I.  George  Washington,  of  Va.,    from    1789  to  1797,    8 


2.  John  Adams,  "  Mass., 

3.  Thomas  JeiFerson,  "  Va., 

4.  James  Madison,  "  Va., 
5   Tames  Monroe,  "  Va., 

6.  John  Q.  Adams,  "  Mass., 

7.  Andrew  Jackson  "  Tenn., 

8.  Mar.tin  Van  Bureri,  "  N.  Y., 

9.  William  II.  Harrison/'  Ohio, 


1797  "  1801,  4 

1801  "  1809,  8 

1809  "  1817,  8 

1817  "  1825,  8 

1825  "  1829,  4 

1829  "  1837,  8 

1837  "  1841,  4 
1841.  Died  April, 


4,   1841,  and  was  succeeded  by  Vice  President 
John  Tyler,  of  Va.,    from    1841  to  1845,    4 

10.  James  K.  Polk,  "  Tenn.,   "       1845"  1849,    4 

Ll.Zachary  Taylor,          "La.,       "       1849.    Died  July 

9,  1850,  and  was  succeeded  by  Vice  President 
Millard  Fillmore,        of  N.  Y.,  to  1853,    4 

12.  Franklin  Pierce,  of  N.  II.,        from    1853 

Reckoning  to  1857,  the  free  states  h&vo  the  officelS years, 
8  months  and  25  days,  —  salaries  $468,402,  —  while  the 
slave  states  have  the  office  49  years,  3  months  and  5  days, 
—  salaries  $1,231,597.  And  this  is  about  the  average 
unouut  of  office  and  money  bestowed  on  the  North,  with 
13,400,000  freemen,  and  the  South  with  6,400,000  free 
men,  in  the  other  principal  departments. 

South  Carolina  has  6  representatives  in  Congress, 
while  New  Hampshire,  with  a  free  population  greater  by 
34,000  has  only  3  ;  and  Virginia  has  13,  while  Massa 
chusetts,  with  a  free  population  greater  by  45,000,  has 
only  11  ;  and  Mississippi  has  5,  while  Wisconsin,  with 
about  10,000  greater  free  population,  has  only  3. 

The  slave  states,  on  the  same  basis  of  representation  aa 
the  free,  are  entitled  to  only  Go  representatives  in  Con 
gress  ;  yet  they  have  90  ;  i.  e.  25  extra. 


UNITED 

STATES. 

No  o? 

FRKE  STATES. 

SQ.  MILES. 

CENSUS  OK  1850.            UEP  s. 

Maine, 

31,766 

583,109 

6 

New  Hampshire, 

9,280 

317,976 

3 

Vermont, 

10,212 

314,120 

3 

Massachusetts, 

7,800 

994,514 

1 

Rhode  Island, 

1,300 

147,545 

2 

Connecticut, 

4,674 

370,792 

4 

New  York, 

4<>,000 

3,097,394 

33 

New  Jersey, 

8,320 

489,555 

5 

Pennsylvania, 

46,000 

2,311,785 

25 

Ohio, 

40,000 

1,980,329 

21 

Indiana, 

33,800 

988,416 

11 

Illinois, 

55,400 

851,470 

9 

Michigan, 

56,243 

397,654 

4 

Wisconsin, 

53,924 

305,391 

3 

Iowa, 

50,900 

192,214 

2 

California, 

155,980 

92,597 

2 

611,599 

13,434,921 

144 

SLAVE  STATES. 

Delaware, 

2,120 

91,532 

1 

Maryland, 

11,124 

583,034 

6 

Virginia, 

61,352 

1,421,661 

13 

North  Carolina, 

50,700 

809,039 

8 

South  Carolina, 

30,000 

668,507 

6 

Georgia, 

58,000 

906,185 

8 

Florida, 

59,300 

87,445 

1 

Alabama, 

50,700 

771,623 

7 

Mississippi, 

47,200 

606,526 

5 

Tennessee, 

45,600 

1,002,717 

10 

Kentucky, 

38,000 

982,405 

10 

Missouri, 

67,400 

682,044 

7 

Arkansas, 

52,200 

209,897 

2 

Louisiana, 

43,000 

517,162 

4 

Texas, 

325,500 

212,592 

2 

942,196 

9,612,369 

of  these      90 

3,204,313 

are  slaves.  144 

6,408,056 

free.            234 

TERRITORIES.  SQ.  MILES.  CENSUS  OF  1850. 

Kansas,  124,800  ) 

Indian,  s.  of  Ka.,  71,000  (  170,000,  Indians. 

Nebraska,  335,800) 

Minnesota,  100,000  6,077 

Washington,  123,000)  i  o  AOQ 

Oregon,  185,000  C  ^'UJ 

Utah,  209,200  11,380 

New  Mexico,  210,000  61,547 

Mesilla,  78,000  10,000,  mostly  Indians 

Columbia  dist.,  60  51,687 


TOTAL,  3,116,655  23,190,074 
N.  B.  The  above  shows  that  the  free  states  (not  includ 
ing  California,  whose  political  power  is  ever  on  the  side 
of  slavery),  having  a  population  of  13,432,324,  have  onlj 
455,619  square  miles  ;  while  the  slave  states,  having  a 
free  population  of  about  6,400,000,  have  942,196  square 
miles  This  gives  in  the  free  states  29*,  and  in  the  slave 
states  about  6A-,  free  persons  to  the  square  mile. 


A  great  reason  why  the  slave-holders  are  so  tenacious 
of  slavery,  is,  that  it  gives  them  great  political  power, 
and  enables  them,  by  the  aid  of  their  allies,  to  control 
the  north,  and  to  use  the  purse  and  sword  of  the  nation 
for  their  own  purposes  ;  that  is,  to  make  war  for  acquir 
ing  territory  stili  more  to  extend  slavery  and  increase 
their  own  power.  To  show  their  unequal  power,  take  a 
representative  district  in  South  Carolina,  having  a  free 
population  of  5,800  of  whom  500,  are  slaveholders,  having 
each  300  slaves  and  5  members  of  their  own  families  ; 
making  150,000,  and  3,000  whites,  equal  to  153,000  ;  and 
2,800  non-slave-holders,  of  whom  400  are  voters.  Of  the 
500  slave-holders,  200  are  women  and  minors,  and  300 
are  voters,  making  in  the  district  700  voters  mho  elect  a 
representative  to  Congress,  and  wield  as  much  power  in 
national  matters  as  a  district  in  New  England  having 
93,423  people,  and  14,000  voters.  So  700  South  Carolina 
voters  equal  14,000  New  England  voters  ;  that  is,  1 
equals  20. 


SUGGESTIONS. 

1st.  A  thorough  knowledge  of  the  Constitution  is  iin 
portant  to  every  citizen.     Without  it,  no  one  can  wisely 
choose  men  duly  fitted  for  office. 

2d.  Common  men  are  competent  to  understand  the  con 
stitution.  They  " ordained  and  established"  it;  and 
surely  common  men  are  able  to  know  what  they  meant 
in  all  its  parts. 

3d.  They  mennt  just  what  they  said  ;  no  more,  no  less. 

4th.  They  were  consistent.  After  plainly  declaring 
their  purposes  as  to  "union,"  " justice,"  "the  general 
welfare/'  and  "the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and 
our  posterity,"  they  did  nothing  contrary  to  these  ends. 
So  no  part  must  be  so  construed  as  to  conflict  with  these 
ends. 

5th.  The  constitution  being  the  basis  of  national  law, 
its  terms  must  be  taken  in  the  sense  usual  in  other  legal 
instruments.  Thus,  in  Art.  I.,  Sec.  2,  IT  3,  the  term 
"  free  "  is  to  be  taken  in  its  political  sense  ;  that  is,  en 
dowed  with  franchises  ;  and  not,  as  it  often  means,  unre 
strained.  Being  used  here  as  in  other  political  papers, 
it  distinguishes  citizens  from  foreigners  or  aliens.  Thus, 
a  citizen  is  counted  as  one,  but  an  alien  as  three-fifths 
of  one. 

So  the  phrases,  "held  to  service,"— Art.  4,  Sec.  2, 
IT  3,  and  "bound  to  service,"  —  Art.  1,  Sec.  2,  IT  3,  are 
legal  phrases,  and  used  in  the  same  sense  as  in  deeds, 
both  meaning  the  same,  and  are  applied  to  the  very 
same  persons;  namely,  those  "bound"  and  "held "by 
contract  signed  by  themselves  or  their  legal  guardians, 
and  stating  the  consideration  and  time  j  that  is,  the  term 
of  years'for  which  they  are  thus  "  bound  "  and  "  held  ;  " 
and  these  phrases  cannot  be  applied  to  others  without 
manifest  wrong,  as  well  as  outrage,  to  the  laws  of  lan 
guage  and  the  rules  of  law.  The  "bound  to  service" 
were  the  same  as  the  "held  to  service,"  and  were  all  free 
persons,  as  indented  apprentices,  indented  servants,  re- 
deinptioners,  and  others  bound  by  contract,  not  slaves,  who 
are  not  "bound"  at  all,  but  kept  as  property,  and  in  the 
words  of  South  Carolina,  "  deemed  chattels  personal  to  all 
intents  and  purposes." 


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